Gimme Some Truth
by Riley Bernard
Summary: This is the sequel to Dirty Little Secret. Life, one year later. Sawyer is a doctor and Callie and Arizona are moving on with their lives. Are they ready for this next chapter?
1. Chapter 1

**Hello! Here it is. The sequel to Dirty Little Secret. I'm so sorry it took me so long. I thought I could write during the summer, but I just worked so much that I literally had zero time. **

**Just a note, I came up for the idea for this story before the finale happened, so Lexie will be in this. Because I really like Lexie and wish she wasn't dead. This first chapter will pick up right where DLS left off… **

Callie closed her laptop and rested her head on the counter top beside it. She'd just closed the Skype connection with her father, and it had been a less than wonderful conversation. It was a chat she had been meaning to have for a few days now, but the unpleasantness of the affair had caused her to put it off. She closed her eyes and thought about everything she'd said…

"_Daddy… the reason I wanted to talk to you today…"_

"_What is it mija?" he asked through the screen. "You look troubled."_

"_I am troubled. A little. Dad, you bribed Aria with a new car to visit me," she stated bluntly._

"_Ah," Carlos' face fell. "She told you that, did she?"_

"_Actually, she told Sawyer after a disgusting little homophobic rant in which she said that my wife and I are not married and our daughter should never have been born."_

"_She didn't!" Carlos looked shocked and disgusted._

_Callie nodded. "She did. And that is not okay."_

"_Of course it isn't, Calliope," Carlos agreed. "If I had known that she would say such things I would never - "_

"_That's not really the point, Daddy. You shouldn't have done it – period. The fact that she said those things makes it worse, but you should not have to bribe my sister to visit me."_

"_I know mija," Carlos sighed, "I just thought… the two of you were so close once. I thought perhaps if I gave Aria a little push she might remember."_

"_A little push would have been showing her an old photo album and suggesting that she give me a call when she's in Seattle, not refusing to buy her a new car unless she spoke to me."_

_Carlos looked appropriately ashamed of his actions._

_Callie sighed. "Sofia will only be immune to how people act towards her, and Arizona and I, and our family for so long. I will not have people who think like Aria and Mom do around my little girl… I can't."_

"_Of course, Calliope, you're right. I am so sorry. I will never do anything like that again, I swear. I'm… I'm so sorry."_

"_I know, Daddy…"_

"How'd it go?" Sawyer asked, rousing Callie from her thoughts as she came around the corner. She'd hidden in the bedroom to give Callie her privacy for the conversation with her father.

"Okay," Callie sighed. "He promises not to bribe people into accepting my life choices anymore."

"Hmm," Sawyer replied, dropping into the bar seat at the counter next to her sister-in-law. "Well that's progress." She gave Callie's arm a comforting pat. "You know what would make you feel better?"

Callie raised an eyebrow. "What's that?"

"Going for a run with me."

"No," Callie rolled her eyes. "You just had major heart surgery. You are not running."

"Please, Callie!" Sawyer begged. "It's been _four_ days. I feel disgusting. I _need_ to go for a run."

"Sorry, Peach," Callie replied, smirking when Sawyer rolled her eyes at Callie's new nickname for her. Upon learning that Sawyer's middle name was Georgia, Callie had taken to calling the younger woman "Peach" or "Peaches" in honour of Georgia's "Peach State" nickname.

"You know, you and Mark make me sound like the most disgusting food combination in the world," Sawyer mused. "Peaches and Soy Sauce."

Callie laughed.

"How about we just jog?" Sawyer tried.

"No."

"A brisk walk?" she tried again.

"Sawyer, no," Callie stated. "Teddy said nothing for at least a week. Three more days, and then we'll talk about walking."

Sawyer huffed and flopped down on the couch, pulling her phone from her pocket when it chimed. Reading the message she moaned, "I need to move!"

"Good god, Sawyer, don't be so dramatic!" Callie admonished.

"What?" Sawyer asked, momentarily confused. "Oh, no. I do need to go for a run. But that was Harrison," she explained, gesturing to her phone and referring to the message she had just received from her roommate. "He and James have decided to move in together."

"I thought he and James had broken up again?" Callie asked.

"They did," Sawyer nodded. "Apparently they're back together _and_ moving in," she huffed, chucking the phone across the couch. She grabbed a pillow and covered her face. "How will I ever find a new place to live if I'm not allowed to leave this apartment!" she said in a muffled groan into the pillow.

"Oh my god, you're ridiculous," Callie laughed, pulling the pillow away from her sister-in-law's face. "You know you can stay here as long as you like, and Arizona and I will help you apartment hunt when you're _healed_."

Sawyer smirked up at her. "You know what would help me feel better until then?"

"We're not running!" Callie exclaimed, throwing the pillow at her.

**XXXXXXXX**

"Dr. Grey?" Arizona asked, approaching the resident. Lexie was sitting alone in the cafeteria, staring at a bowl of cereal as though it had just stolen her puppy. When the younger woman failed to look up, Arizona tried again. "Lexie?"

"Hmm?" Lexie replied, eyes snapping up from her bowl of now soggy frosted flakes. "Oh, hi Arizona," she greeted half-heartedly.

"Everything okay?" Arizona asked, taking a seat at Lexie's otherwise empty table. "Things with you and Mark…" she hedged, unsure if Mark was a topic the resident would be comfortable speaking with her about. She and Callie had been picking up hints that Mark and Lexie's romance might in fact be rekindling, offhanded comments that Mark made here and there, and Arizona had seen Lexie leaving Mark's apartment just yesterday morning. But Mark had said nothing and so the couple was trying to be respectful, trying to be an example of the personal boundaries they had so insisted on, and that Mark had become surprisingly good at respecting over the past year. But still… if Lexie wanted to talk, Arizona wasn't going to _not_ listen.

Lexie sighed. "It's not Mark… not really. It's… the dream house is done."

"Derek and Meredith's house?" Arizona clarified.

Lexie nodded. "I live with my sister, her husband and their baby," she sighed. "Just the four of us because my other roommates decided to up and move without me. And now Meredith and Derek are moving and they said I can stay in the house but…" she dropped the spoon that she had been using to idly push her mushy cereal around the bowl and looked Arizona in the eyes. "I can't stay there. In that big house all by myself. I mean… that's my dad's ex-wife's house. That's the house that my dad lived in when he had a different family. I mean, it's weird enough living there with Meredith, but if it was just me… No. I can't do it. It's too weird."

Arizona nodded her understanding and the resident continued.

"And I can't tell Mark, because he'll tell me to move in with him. But I can't. It's too soon. And I don't even know if we're really back together yet and I don't want to move too quickly because I'm afraid it'll screw things up. But I can't just get a place by myself because I have no money so I'd need a roommate, and I'd probably end up with someone I met on Craig's List who wants to murder me in my sleep or keeps a lot of exotic pets or something. I'm about to become homeless or live with a murderous zookeeper and I can't talk to my almost maybe boyfriend about it and… and I need a doughnut."

Lexie rose to hunt down her stress food of choice but Arizona reached out a hand to stop her. "Lexie wait," she said, tugging at the younger woman's sleeve. "I have an idea…"

And that was how Sawyer and Lexie became roommates.

**XXXXXXXX**

Lexie and Sawyer moved into an apartment a few blocks from Callie and Arizona and quickly became friends and confidants. Before anyone realized it, the months had rolled by, Sawyer had completed her physiotherapy, Sofia had completely skipped over walking and was running anywhere her little feet would take her, and Callie had begun casually floating the idea of another baby to Arizona, (and to her great pleasure Arizona seemed quite receptive to the idea). Soon enough, Sawyer's first day at Seattle Grace Mercy West rolled around. And not only was it Sawyer's first day as an intern, but also Lexie's first day as chief resident. So it was really no surprise when Callie, Arizona and Mark finished dropping Sofia off at day care, and bumped into an incredibly stressed out and very frazzled Lexie.

"Should I give a speech?" Lexie asked in a semi-panic. "Do you think they'll want a speech? I wrote one, but then I thought they wouldn't want one, so I left my notes at home. Oh god! Why did I leave my notes at home!?"

"Calm down," Mark said gently, firmly placing his hands on Lexie's shoulders. "You have a photographic memory. If you want to, you can remember the speech."

"Oh… right," Lexie replied.

"You're gonna be great," Arizona smiled warmly.

"Thanks," Lexie said, returning the smile. She glanced at her watch. "Okay, I need to go greet the new interns before I talk to the residents."

"Who's Sawyer's resident?" Callie asked.

"Dr. Laska," Lexie replied.

"You didn't want her for yourself?" Mark asked.

"Of course I did," Lexie sighed. "But she's my friend and my roommate so I didn't want people to think I'm favouring her. "

"Plus, the chief resident's interns usually end up doing more paperwork than actual medicine," Arizona added. "At least mine did when I was chief resident."

"Laska?" Mark asked. "I don't know that name…" He paused, thinking. "Yeah, I have no idea who that is…"

"Seriously, Mark?" Callie asked.

"She's in plastics…" Lexie deadpanned.

"Really?" Mark asked again. "Well I only ever really worked with Avery…"

"She's worked mostly with Dr. Moss," Lexie supplied.

"Moss," Mark scoffed. "What a hack. Well maybe I'll give her a shot. But hey, Sawyer's assigned to a plastics resident. It's fate. I told you she'd end up in plastics."

Callie and Arizona rolled their eyes and the group walked Lexie to the stairway in which she would be giving her address. A large group of interns was milling around at the bottom of the stairs and Arizona caught sight of her sister, dressed in pale blue scrubs and a white lab coat and she beamed at her with pride. Sawyer shot her a nervous smile in return before turning her attention to Lexie on the stairs.

As Callie, Arizona and Mark left the group of interns to get their days started, they walked past Avery and Karev, headed in the opposite direction.

"Man, I love new interns," Alex smirked.

"Me too," Avery replied knowingly. "Oh, hot blonde."

Arizona's gaze followed Avery's outstretched hand and found it pointing at her little sister. "Do it and die, Avery," she snapped.

"I will end you," Mark stated firmly.

"Don't even think about it," Callie bit off sharply.

Avery looked shocked at the outbursts of the three Attendings. With harsh looks, Callie and Arizona went on their way while Mark stayed behind.

"What do you mean I can't sleep with interns?" Callie distinctly heard Avery whine.

"No, just not _that_ intern," Mark clarified.

Callie rolled her eyes, and interlaced her fingers with her wife's as they made their way down the hall.

**So, I just want to clarify that this **_**is**_** a Callie & Arizona story. This chapter had a lot of Sawyer, Lexie & Mark in it but that is because you needed to learn a few details. I wrote it as kind of a bridge between DLS and GST, which will really begin next chapter.**

**The next chapter will pick up roughly 1 year later, after Sawyer has completed her internship and has just begun her residency. So until then… Leave me a review :) Because they are the greatest and they make me smile.**


	2. Chapter 2

**So. I had wicked writer's block all summer. I got that first chapter written and then – nothing. So finally I thought, maybe I need the push. If I publish the first chapter, the feedback will motivate me to finally come up with chapter 2. And holy crap did it ever! 35 reviews on the first chapter? That is nuts. You guys are amazing. And every time my phone buzzed letting me know I had some more feedback, it was like a little voice in my head saying "Get to work!" And low and behold, 2 days later and I'm done with chapter 2. Phew. If you guys keep this up, I'll be done this bad boy in no time!**

"So… what do you think?" Callie asked. She and Arizona were seated on the couch, Arizona's feet in her lap, and her cell phone on the table in front of them.

"About you, having _my_ baby," Arizona repeated slowly. They'd just ended a call with Addison, whom they'd asked to perform some basic tests on Callie to determine if she would in fact be capable of having children again. They'd been to L.A. just over a week ago, hiding the real reason for their trip behind Sofia's first vacation and a chance to catch up with Addison. Sure, there were plenty of OB specialists in Seattle who could have run the tests, but neither Callie nor Arizona wanted anyone other than the doctor who had delivered Sofia into the world, and helped save Callie's life to perform them. Addison had just informed them that while a natural insemination or childbirth would be exceedingly unlikely, there was no reason that with IVF and a planned caesarean section that Callie could not bring a baby to term.

It was with that good news ringing in her ears that Callie had blurted out the idea that had been forming in her mind for weeks now; to implant one of Arizona's eggs into her uterus.

"Yeah…" Callie replied, hesitant now. She'd wanted to do more research first. Wanted to have a clear plan laid out for them before she brought the suggestion to her wife, but there had been a large part of her that had been afraid that she would not in fact be able to have another baby, and so in that moment of happiness, the words had tumbled forth. She took a deep breath. "You should take some time to think about it… But I just… A little _you_, Arizona. A little boy or girl with the blue eyes and the dimples… It makes my heart melt."

Arizona paused, thinking. "Well I guess it's only fair," she replied with a coy little smile. "I mean, Sofia looks more and more like you every day, and I _love_ that."

"Wait, what?" Callie asked. She'd been so ready for hesitancy or uncertainty from her wife, or possibly even outright refusal that she found herself struck with momentary confusion.

"And Addison said it would have to be IVF anyways, so, I mean, adding one more step in, to get the donor eggs - "

"So you're saying…" Callie interrupted Arizona, finally grasping the acceptance she was hearing.

"I'm saying we should definitely look into it," Arizona replied, pulling her feet from Callie's lap so that she could crawl across the couch to her. Callie's grin was infectious, and Arizona felt her own lips twitching up into a smile as she leaned down to kiss her wife.

**XXXXXXXX**

Callie was still riding that high at work the next day when the news reached her that the chief wished to speak with her. Rounding the corner to Owen's office, she knocked once, and was called inside.

"Dr. Torres," Owen greeted professionally. "I have a matter that needs discussing."

Callie raised her eyebrows. "Is everything okay?"

Owen smiled. "Oh, it's certainly okay. This is good news. Your cartilage research has been approved to move into the human testing phase."

"It… what?" Callie asked, dumbstruck.

"Has been approved for human testing" Owen repeated with a grin.

"But… but…" Callie sputtered, "It's only been like… four years! It can't possibly be ready!"

"Others would disagree with you. They've been keeping an eye on the progress that your cartilage has been making and they believe that you cartilage has in fact, reached the stage of human testing. The general desire is for you to lead the testing phase, although I understand that this is a considerable time commitment. Your regular surgical load would be reduced, of course, but even so, I would be understanding if you weren't interested in the project. My impression was that they would continue with or without you, but that you were clearly their first choice - "

"No, no I definitely want to head up the project," Callie interrupted quickly.

"Excellent," Owen smiled, opening the folder he had been holding. "So I have the file on the selected patient zero and an outline of the treatment plan they'd like you to follow - "

"Excuse me?" Callie interrupted again. "Who selected patient zero? And they've written up a treatment plan? This is my cartilage. Shouldn't I get to select my own patient zero? Come up with my own treatment plan?"

"There may be opportunity for that later," Owen replied. "As you know, the cartilage project was picked up by a team of military scientists who felt that it had strong potential for the rehabilitation of injured soldiers."

Callie nodded, familiar with the funding the project had received thus far.

"With all the military funding and military investment in the project, the team was quite insistent that the formula be applied to an applicant of their choosing and that the treatment plan they have been devising be followed. However they felt it best to return the project to its creator, for continuity."

Callie nodded.

"But I expect," Owen continued, "that if this first patient is a success, they will likely be far more liberal in allowing you freedom with your cartilage. It's their funding, so play nice for a little while, Torres, and you'll be reaping the rewards."

"All right," Callie agreed. It made sense. She knew the military had put a lot into the project of her cartilage, it made sense that they wouldn't be willing to simply hand her the reins after everything they had invested. When her cartilage had been picked up for military research, it had seemed surreal to Callie, and the less than regular updates she received documenting the progress of the research team had always shocked her, not just for the progress they were making, but also for the amount of money the military was pouring into the program. It was staggering. The effect these reports had on Callie never failed to make Arizona laugh. She would chuckle, offer Callie and kiss and simply say "_You're_ that_ brilliant, babe_."

"So will I be working on an injured soldier?" Callie asked.

"Yes," Owen nodded, passing Callie the folder. "Captain Mitchell Baron of the United States Marine Corp."

Callie smiled as she skimmed the file. A Marine. Arizona would love that. Flipping to the scans, Callie cringed. "Jesus," she breathed. "This guy needed a knee replacement like a year ago. He has essentially no articular cartilage here."

"But a knee replacement would have put him on limited duty. He's been resisting one in the hopes that alternative treatment would allow him to return to the same unit."

Flipping through some more of the chart, Callie let out a low whistle. "This is quite the patient zero they've chosen," she said. It would never have been her first choice to start out on a knee. She would have started smaller, with a wrist or an elbow.

"Of course," Owen went on after waiting for Callie to finish looking at the folder, "as with all experimental procedures like this, the identity of patient zero needs to be kept secret. Not from you of course, but from the general public, and as such, it has been requested that rather than our usual procedure of juggling residents and interns for different stages of the procedure, that you select a devoted team to assist you with this project."

"Sure," Callie nodded agreeably.

"I was thinking Barr or MacDiarmid," Owen suggested. "They've both shown an interest in and an aptitude for ortho, but obviously the choice is yours."

Callie paused to think for a minute. Aptitude and interest seemed like a bit of a stretch for Matty Barr. He tried to get in on ortho surgeries because he had an enormous crush on Callie's favourite ortho scrub nurse, Catherine. He was neither particularly interested in, nor gifted with orthopedics. On the other hand, Will MacDiarmid was certainly competent, and he had a keen interest for her specialty, but she was fairly certain she'd kill him if she had to spend the kind of time with him that this project would entail. His pompous, know-it-all attitude made her want to slap him. When she thought about it, Callie realized that there was only one resident who she really wanted to be spending that kind of time with.

"I'd like Dr. Logan," Callie stated.

Owen raised an eyebrow. "A first year resident? You don't want someone a little more experienced?"

"No one is experienced with this procedure," Callie reasoned. "I can teach Sawyer just as well as I can teach anyone else."

"She's your sister-in-law," Owen pointed out.

"That's not why I want her," Callie countered. "I want her because she's good and I trust her."

Owen nodded. It was true. Even though Sawyer was only a first year resident, it wasn't uncommon for attendings to request her.

"Well all right then," Owen agreed. "I'm sure it will take time to familiarize your team with your cartilage, so I will make sure that lab time is made available to you, and I'll leave it up to you to contact Captain Baron when you're ready for him."

Callie nodded.

Owen grinned. "This is going to do fantastic things for the hospital Dr. Torres. You should be very proud."

Callie smiled, thanked him, and took her leave of his office. She hurried down the hall, anxious to find Arizona and tell her the amazing news, and Sawyer, to let her know what she had just been volunteered for. Callie knew that technically, Sawyer still had to agree to the project, but a groundbreaking trial like this, especially as a first year resident, she'd have to be an idiot to turn that down, and Sawyer was no idiot.

**XXXXXXXX **

Arizona too, had been having a good day. Still elated with the possibility of expanding their family, Alex had quipped that she must have put an extra shot of perky in her latte that morning. Now charting at the nurse's station, Arizona's mood only improved when she looked up to see her wife bouncing down the hall towards her.

Dropping her pen, Arizona greeted Callie with a smile. "Hey," she giggled as Callie pulled her from behind the counter and into a hug. "What's up?" she asked.

"Hunt just told me that they've green lighted my cartilage for human test subjects!" Callie practically squealed.

"You're kidding!" Arizona replied, pulling Callie back into another hug. "Oh my god, Calliope, that's amazing!"

"And my patient zero is a Marine," Callie grinned.

"That's so awesome," Arizona replied with a grin to match her wife's. "When do you start?"

"Well I have to get a team together and trained," Callie replied. "It'll mostly just be me and Sawyer to start with, but eventually we'll need a whole scrub team, so we'll need a month or two before we're ready."

"Sawyer?" Arizona repeated. "You're using Sawyer?"

"Yeah," Callie replied. "Well, technically I still have to ask her - "

"Oh, of course she'll be in, this is an amazing opportunity for her!" Arizona replied.

"Right, so I actually need to go find her," Callie smiled, "but I wanted to tell you first."

Arizona grinned and popped up on the balls of her feet for a quick kiss. "I'm so proud of you."

Callie beamed. "God, I am having the best day. I have a feeling that this is going to translate into some excellent sex for you."

Arizona laughed. "Just when you thought the day couldn't get any better."

And with one more parting kiss, Callie went on her way, in search of Sawyer. As she resumed her charting, Arizona mused that perhaps they'd better ask Mark to take Sofia for the night. On the other hand, she had a feeling that things might get a little loud. Maybe it'd be best for Sofia to have a sleepover with her Auntie Sawyer, several blocks away…

**So, as you can see, this story will be a little different that DLS in that it won't be quite so singularly focused. That story was all about how Sawyer became a part of Callie and Arizona's life. This story will be a little more split. The trial, the attempt at another baby, and how Sawyer is doing at SGMW. As such, some chapters will be more C&A, others more Sawyer, and some a mixture of both. But I promise, if you trust me, it'll all turn out great.**

**Hit the review button if you have a second! 'til the next chapter guys!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey folks! Here is the next installment. Do please enjoy!**

"Sawyer!" Callie called, running down the hall when she finally spotted the resident. She'd been searching for her for the better part of a half hour now, the text to her phone going unanswered. "What are you doing in PEDS?" Callie asked. "And why didn't you answer your phone?"

"I was sleeping," Sawyer replied, gesturing behind her to the on call room. "People never come to PEDS to sleep because they think the kids are noisy, but they're not that bad, and you can always get an on call room to yourself. My phone was off, sorry. What do you need?"

"How would you feel about working on a clinical trial with me?" Callie asked with a sly smile.

"A clinical trial?" Sawyer asked. "Uh, sure… what kind of trial?"

"My cartilage research has been approved for human test subjects. I've been assigned a patient zero, have the treatment plan, I just need to train a team, which, at this stage, would be just an assistant – you."

Sawyer's jaw dropped. "Shut up," she stated flatly.

Callie laughed. "I'll take that as a _yes Callie, thank you Callie, you're the greatest Callie._"

"Callie!" Sawyer exclaimed, grabbing her sister-in-law in a hug. "Oh my god, yes! Thank you! This is amazing, I can't even begin…"

"Hey, you saved my life once kiddo," Callie joked.

"I knew that would pay off," Sawyer kidded.

**XXXXXXXX**

A few weeks later, things were running smoothly. Sawyer was picking things up in the lab much faster than Callie had anticipated and it wouldn't be long now before they were able to start actual treatment with their patient zero. Callie's caseload had been reduced, as had Sawyer's and they were both spending several hours a day working on the trial.

Not every doctor in the hospital was pleased with this development however. Callie was the preferred orthopedic consult and with her time otherwise occupied, they were forced to turn to other ortho specialists. Sawyer too, despite only being a first year resident, was finding herself being missed, and it seemed the doctor least pleased about Sawyer's reduced caseload was in fact the doctor who had signed off on it. Sawyer had already begun to show a certain knack for trauma, and Hunt found that he greatly missed her presence in the ER. He had her scheduled for almost nothing but the pit whenever she wasn't working with Callie.

Down in the pit herself for a consult, Arizona was now charting at the nurse's station and thinking that she should hunt Sawyer down to see if she needed a break and a coffee, when she was roused from her thoughts as a loud crash and a lot of yelling sounded from the end of the hall. When a second bang and some even louder yelling began, the smile that had been present on her face all day took a down turn into a concerned frown. Kicking out the wheels on her shoes, she skated down the hallway to find what the commotion was about.

Rounding the corner, Arizona pulled up to a quick stop beside Bailey and took in the scene before her. "What the hell happened!?" she questioned.

Sawyer was on the ground, propped up against a wall, her cheek bleeding heavily. Lexie had crouched down beside her and was examining the cut. The noise was coming from Alex, Mark, and a large man the two of them seemed to have tackled to the ground.

"No idea," Bailey replied, "I come around the corner and I find this mess in my hallway."

Lexie helped Sawyer off the ground and the pair made their way over to where Arizona and Bailey stood.

"Are you okay?" Arizona asked, taking Sawyer's face in her hands to examine the cut for herself.

"I'm fine," Sawyer replied, brushing her sister's hand away.

"What the hell happened?" Bailey demanded.

"He came in complaining of stomach pains," Sawyer replied. "When I went to check his abdomen though, he freaked out. Grabbed an instrument tray and hit me in the face. Started yelling and ranting, and ran out into the hallway. I went after him, but Mark and Karev already had him on the ground."

Arizona took Sawyer's face in her hands again. "This needs stitches," she stated examining Sawyer's cut more closely.

"I'll get one of my interns to do it," Sawyer replied, waving off Arizona's concern.

"You'll do what?" Mark asked, he and Alex joining the group as a couple of nurses Arizona recognized from the psych ward led the man away.

"Are you okay?" Alex asked, a look of concern on his face as he eyed the cut.

Mark too, took Sawyer's face in his hands to examine the gash.

"Stop that," Sawyer said, swatting Mark's hands away. "I'm fine," she added to Alex.

"Soy Sauce, this is your face we're talking about. I will not have some intern hacking away at your face."

"Seriously Mark, it's - "

"No," Mark cut her off. "Come with me Soy Sauce, I'll have you good as new in no time. No scar. I promise."

And with that, Mark ushered a reluctant Sawyer down the hall and into a waiting exam room.

"I worry about her." A dreamy voice floated up from behind them, and Arizona, Bailey, Lexie and Alex turned to find Dr. Emma Laska standing behind them. "She's my intern," Laska continued, "or was, she's a resident now, but still I worry about her."

"That never really goes away," Bailey replied, shooting a glance at Alex.

"Sorry, why do you worry about her?" Arizona asked. Dr. Laska was a competent doctor, but a little strange. She always seemed to be off in her own world.

"Sleeping with Dr. Sloan," Laska replied flatly. "She was an intern. He was an attending. Plus, I think he has a girlfriend…"

As Arizona, Lexie and Bailey gaped at the doctor before them, it was Alex who found his voice first.

"Dude, she's not sleeping with Sloan," he said with an awkward glance at Lexie.

"Are you sure?" the clueless doctor continued. "At first, I was very excited when the famous Dr. Sloan wanted to work with me. But then I realized that he was really only interested in Dr. Logan. I've heard the rumors about him. I just assumed they were sleeping together."

"They're not," Arizona stated firmly.

"Oh, my mistake," Dr. Laska replied before turning on her heel and wandering off.

"Well that was weird," Alex stated as soon as Dr. Laska was out of earshot. "I'm gonna head back to PEDS before Dr. Nutcase comes back," he said, also taking his leave of the group.

When Alex had left, Bailey turned to Arizona and Lexie. "Who is Logan sleeping with?"

"What?" asked Arizona.

"Oh, c'mon," Bailey replied. "Everybody in this damn hospital is sleeping with someone. You're her sister," she gestured to Arizona, "and you're her best friend," she added to Lexie. "Who is it?"

"Bailey, are you gossiping?" Arizona smirked.

"I am not," Bailey stated defiantly. "I just like to keep appraised of the situation so that I can keep it out of my OR. Keep it from messing with my day."

"She's not seeing anyone," Arizona supplied with a laugh.

"Really?" Bailey questioned. "Pretty girl like her?"

"I think she's just really focused on work right now," Lexie offered. "I mean, lots of nights she just doesn't come home, but she says she just stayed at the hospital."

"Mhmm," Bailey replied, sounding unconvinced. "I see."

**XXXXXXXX**

"Hey, is Sawyer seeing anyone?" Arizona asked from across the kitchen.

Callie looked up from her spot on the couch. "What?" she asked.

"I said is Sawyer seeing anyone?" Arizona repeated, rounding the counter and making her way to the living room. Sofia was asleep, bathed and put down an hour ago. Arizona had been tidying the kitchen while Callie read through some material from the clinical trial. But Bailey's comment about Sawyer's dating life had been gnawing at her all afternoon until she couldn't hold it in anymore and she had to ask her wife. Lately, Callie had been spending a lot more time with Sawyer than Arizona had and she wondered if her sister had mentioned anything.

"No…" Callie replied hesitantly, pausing though, to consider what Arizona had said. Sawyer used to mention her dating life from time to time; dates she was going on, or dates that had gone less than extraordinarily, but over the last few months, it suddenly dawned on Callie that Sawyer had stopped mentioning it. "She hasn't mentioned her dating life to me in a while now."

"Right?" Arizona asked, dropping onto the couch beside her wife. "Bailey was asking this morning and I realized - "

"Bailey?" Callie asked with a smirk, "gossiping?"

Arizona chuckled. "My thoughts exactly. But still, she has a point. Lexie says that she's focused on work, but yeah."

"Hmm," Callie replied. "Well I guess that's as good a segue as any," she said, reaching forward to grab a pile of folders in front of her.

"What's this?" Arizona asked.

"Sperm donors," Callie replied.

"Mmm," Arizona replied, and Callie was pleased to note the tone of excitement in her voice.

"Care to go sperm shopping with me?" Callie smiled.

Arizona reached forward and grabbed a stack of files. "I'd love to," she grinned.

"So, I figure we can just sort through them, make a pile of ones we like and ones we don't like, and then trade. Anything we put in the no pile is off the table and we'll work through the yesses together?"

"Makes sense," Arizona smiled, flipping open the first folder.

About two hours later both Callie and Arizona had a small pile of yesses in front of them and they had completely diminished the bios that Callie had brought home.

"Ready to switch?" Callie asked as she dropped one more folder into the no pile.

"Sure am," Arizona replied as she placed her last file into the yes pile before her, and handing the collection over to her wife.

As Callie opened the first folder, she scanned down the details quickly before flipping open the next folder, then the next, and the next before turning to her wife. "Arizona," she said, "these all look like me."

"I know," Arizona replied, flipping open the first of Callie's folders. "That's what I like," she added with a wink.

"But I want a little mini you," Callie whined.

"Yes…" Arizona replied. "I thought that was why we were harvesting my eggs."

"You took Bio 101 too, Arizona," Callie replied. "You know that my genes, Latin genes, are dominant, your traits are recessive. If we don't pick a donor who looks like you, we don't get that mini you."

"So you just want to pick a donor that's your _type_," Arizona kidded.

"Now you're getting there," Callie joked.

"Fine," Arizona huffed animatedly.

Callie leaned across the couch and kissed her cheek. "You just look at the ones I picked out."

Arizona giggled. Really, she couldn't care less what the baby looked like. She was more concerned with medical history and personality traits. If Callie wanted blonde haired, blue eyed babies that was fine with her.

"I'm tired," Arizona declared, pushing the folders away. "Can we call that progress for tonight and come back to this later?"

"Absolutely," Callie replied, gathering the discarded folders into a pile and tucking the potentials away for safe-keeping.

"Because all this talk about baby making is making me feel like we should be practicing."

Callie laughed, grabbing Arizona's hand to lead her to the bedroom. For a couple of women who had decided to go with artificial insemination, they sure were practicing a lot.

**And that's it for chapter 3. Please do take the time to leave me a review. Any speculation, feedback, complaints – I appreciate it all! Cheers.**


	4. Chapter 4

Callie was excited. Literally buzzing. She practically skipped down the hall towards the cafeteria. Today was the day. She and Sawyer were meeting Captain Mitchell Baron, their patient zero, at 2pm to begin his treatment. Callie had had a relatively easy morning with nothing on the books but a textbook knee replacement. It was fitting, she mused to herself as she scanned the cafeteria, that on the day she started making knee replacements obsolete, that she take the time to do one herself.

Okay, well maybe not obsolete. That was probably getting ahead of herself. But the fact of the matter was that today, Mitchell Baron needed a knee replacement, but hopefully, when Callie and Sawyer were done with him, he wouldn't. And that was amazing.

Spotting Sawyer at a table with Mark and Avery, Callie grabbed her tray and headed in that direction. They'd agreed to meet at lunch to go over their game plan one more time before meeting the patient. Not that they hadn't been spending almost every waking minute together for the last week or so, nor that they hadn't gone over the treatment plan so many times that they could both recite it to you with their eyes closed. They were both simply too excited to get started.

Plopping down in the chair beside Sawyer, Callie grabbed an apple off of Mark's tray, and turned her attention to her resident.

"Hey!" Mark exclaimed, trying in vain to swipe the fruit back out of Callie's hand. "I was going to eat that."

"I'm sure you have 4 more in your locker," Callie replied with a shrug, turning her back towards Mark and trying to get Sawyer's attention. The resident was currently engaged in a deep discussion with Avery.

"You're wrong," Jackson stated emphatically.

"No, I'm not. They should dump him completely. It's not enough to just give his starting spot to Schneider. They should get him off their roster to make room for some younger talent," Sawyer replied with equal conviction.

"You seriously think Luongo is the reason they lost that series?" Jackson asked, dumbfounded.

"Not the entire reason, no, of course not," Sawyer replied. "But Thomas was standing on his head every game. If Luongo had played half as well as him, they'd have won that cup. We outplayed you offensively, but had nothing in goal."

"What's going on?" Callie asked, leaning towards Mark.

"Avery's a Bruins fan," Mark replied, taking a bite of his sandwich. "They've rehashed the 2011 Stanley Cup final so many times I don't even hear them when they start anymore."

"Ah," Callie nodded. Sawyer was a hockey fan. It had confused Callie and Arizona and thrilled Mark when she'd mentioned it one day. Growing up in Vegas, Callie couldn't understand where a love of ice hockey would come from, but Sawyer had explained that growing up, hockey was the only sport that her step-father, Ray, never watched. Heading off to her undergrad at Columbia, it was the only sport that didn't remind her of him, and so she'd become a New York Rangers fan. (Which thrilled Mark even more as he too, loved the Rangers). After moving to Seattle, Sawyer had adopted the Vancouver Canucks as a second favourite team, and Callie and Arizona often found her over at Mark's watching hockey with him.

"Whatever, you're wrong," Avery stated, rising from the table. "I'll see you later."

Sawyer nodded and turned her attention to Callie, pushing her tray along the table as the attending finished her apple. "Help yourself," she offered. "I'm too excited to eat."

Callie laughed, grabbing half of Sawyer's untouched sandwich.

"Aren't you just meeting the guy today?" Mark asked.

"Yeah," Callie replied. "Going over patient history and explaining the treatment plan and procedure to him."

"Sounds thrilling," Mark deadpanned.

"Hey," Sawyer pointed a finger at Mark. "It's starting."

"Whatever," Mark replied flippantly, "I have actual surgeries to perform," he said, rising from the table.

"Emergency boob job?" Sawyer mocked good-naturedly.

"Hey now, don't knock plastics," Mark replied. "We all know you're gonna end up here some day."

Sawyer rolled her eyes. "Keep telling yourself that, Mark."

**XXXXXXXX**

With about half an hour to spare before their 2pm appointment, Callie found herself striding down the hallway towards the Pediatric wing for a quick hello to her wife before embarking on quite possibly the biggest step in her career, when suddenly, it hit her. The biggest step in her career. This was starting. She'd been saying it all day, been talking about it ad nauseum to Arizona for weeks. But suddenly it was very real, and very scary. The military had literally funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars into this project and were prepared to shell out a lot more if she was successful. She could change the course of orthopedic surgery, of medical history – or she could completely screw it up. The government would pull the funding, and the potential this cartilage had, the potential to help thousands of people, would be lost.

Suddenly, Callie felt like she couldn't breathe.

"Hey you," a bubbly voice sounded in her ear. But when Callie looked up, she knew her face wasn't mirroring the cheerfulness of Arizona's greeting.

Catching sight of Callie's pale and sweaty face, concern replaced Arizona's former buoyancy. "What's wrong?" she asked.

Callie looked Arizona in the eye. "I…" she started. "What if…" she tried again. "The trial…" She gave Arizona a pleading look and the blonde took a firm hold on her elbow, guiding her back into the on-call room she had conveniently stopped in front of.

Shutting the door behind them, Arizona turned to her wife. "Callie," she said softly, running a gentle hand down Callie's cheek. "Don't do this. Don't psych yourself up, or freak yourself out. You're ready. You're going to be great."

"What if I'm not?" Callie whispered, panic flooding through her. "There has been so much money put into this research - "

"Don't think about that," Arizona interrupted.

"And the hospital and Owen - " Callie tried again.

"Don't think about that either," Arizona repeated firmly. "Look, Callie, I know it's big and scary right now. But it doesn't have to be. It only needs to be as big as one patient. What's his name?" she prodded gently.

"Mitchell Baron," Callie replied. "Captain Mitchell Baron."

Arizona smiled. "There you go. That's it. Just you, and Captain Baron. You are going to help Captain Baron. Just focus on that, okay?"

Callie nodded. "Okay," she replied with a sigh. Then she let a slow smile creep onto her face. "Thanks for showing up the moment I have a panic attack," she grinned sheepishly.

Arizona laughed and placed a quick kiss on her lips. "That's what I'm here for." Punctuating that statement with another kiss, Arizona asked, "What time do you meet Captain Baron?"

"Two," Callie replied, reaching for Arizona's arm and lifting it so she could read her wife's watch. She never wore one herself. "Crap, it's quarter to," she said, releasing Arizona's arm. "I gotta go."

"You're gonna be great," Arizona stated, shooting her wife a particularly dazzling smile.

Feeling her nerves melting at the sight, Callie returned the gesture. "Thank you," she smiled.

**XXXXXXXX**

Hurrying to be on time now, Callie whipped around the corner to the exam room they had scheduled to find Sawyer waiting in the hallway.

"Hey, you made it," Sawyer smiled good-naturedly.

"Yeah," Callie breathed.

"Are you okay?" Sawyer asked, taking in Callie's appearance, and Callie surmised that there must be some residual traces of her earlier break down - probably nothing that a normal person would notice, but Sawyer had an almost super human ability to read body language.

"I'm great," Callie replied. "Let's do this," she grinned.

Pushing open the door Callie was greeted with the site of a man in his late 30s with brown hair, deep brown eyes and an easy smile. Hopping down from the exam table, he extended his hand. "Ma'am."

Callie smiled her professional smile and shook the man's hand. "Captain Baron," she greeted. "My name is Dr. Torres and I'll be running your clinical trial. This is Dr. Logan," she added, gesturing to Sawyer beside her who, in turn, also shook his hand. "She's a surgical resident who will be assisting me with your procedure."

Callie watched as Sawyer's eyes lingered on Captain Baron for just a moment longer than necessary before the resident blinked, smiled, and turned her focus back to Callie.

"Today we'll just be talking," Callie continued. "So you can take a seat Captain," she smiled, gesturing back to the exam table and taking a seat herself in one of the plastic chairs. Sawyer did the same.

"Thank you ma'am," Baron replied with a smile. "I'd just like to say how grateful I am to be selected for this project. I mean… if you could actually fix my knee… it'd mean the world to me."

"We're happy to do it Captain Baron," Callie replied warmly. "So," she continued as Sawyer passed her a folder. "We're going to start by explaining, in layman's terms, how the procedure will go. Then, we have a whole battery of medical history questions we'll need you to answer. You ready?"

"Let's do this," Baron replied.

**XXXXXXXX**

An hour later and Sawyer's hand was cramping from the amount of notes she'd taken. But things were wrapping up. Sawyer had decided that she liked Captain Baron. He was friendly, charming and easy-going even though she got the sense that he was harboring a few secrets – had probably seen some things while serving in the military. Glancing to her left, Sawyer got the sense that Callie liked the Captain too.

"So I think that about wraps it up Captain Baron," Callie said, and Sawyer flipped the folder closed. "Thank you very much for your patience."

Baron smiled. "Hey, this is all for my knee, and my boys in my unit. I'll be as patient as you need me to be."

"We appreciate that," Callie smiled, rising. Sawyer followed suit. "We'll see you in about 2 weeks then, on the 18th."

"Absolutely," Baron nodded.

As Callie shut the door behind them, Sawyer smiled. "That went well."

"Yes it did," Callie replied as they made their way down the hall.

"I liked him, he seems nice," Sawyer continued.

Callie smirked. "I bet you did."

"What?" Sawyer asked, confused.

"I saw you checking him out," Callie replied with a laugh.

"I was not!" Sawyer replied indignantly.

"Please, I saw you staring at him when we first went into the room," Callie countered.

"I was not checking him out!" Sawyer repeated. "He just looked familiar to me for a second."

"Sure," Callie laughed. "Seriously, it's okay Sawyer," Callie continued with a shrug. "He's kinda hot. Plus, now I can let Arizona know you're not seeing anyone."

"Wait, what?" Sawyer asked, actually coming to a halt in the hallway.

"Nothing," Callie replied, gesturing for Sawyer to continue walking with her. She did. "It's just the other day, a couple weeks ago, Arizona came home completely convinced that you were seeing someone and keeping it a secret."

Sawyer looked surprised. "I would have told you guys," she replied.

"I know," Callie replied with a smile. "What's going on here?" she asked as they rounded a corner and came upon a large group of doctors and nurses.

"Cookies!" a little old lady called from the centre of the group. "Would you like some dears? I made them as a thank you to you all for taking such good care of my Henry."

"Oh god yes, I'm starving," Sawyer exclaimed. "I shouldn't have skipped lunch," she added sheepishly to Callie.

Callie chuckled. "I'm good, thank you ma'am. I'll see you later," she added to Sawyer as she continued on down the hall.

Sawyer turned back to the old lady. "These don't have nuts in them, do they?" she asked politely.

"No, dear," the little woman replied.

"Awesome," she grinned, reaching in and grabbing a cookie. As she raised the cookie to her mouth, a hand reached in from behind her and grabbed the cookie out of her grasp. Spinning around to face the offending hand, Sawyer came face to face with Alex.

"That's my cookie," she whined, reaching for it. "Seriously, Alex, there are lots, and I'm starving."

"Dude, these have peanut butter in them," Alex replied, pulling the cookie further from Sawyer and taking a bite himself.

Turning back to the old woman, Sawyer asked, "Is there peanut butter in these?"

"Yes, dear," she replied.

"I thought you said there were no nuts?" Sawyer questioned.

"No nuts," she replied. "Just peanut butter."

Sawyer laughed. "Okay, thank you ma'am."

"You're welcome," Alex said as he polished off the cookie and Sawyer turned her attention back to him.

"Thank you, Alex," Sawyer replied with a roll of her eyes. As Alex smirked and walked away, Sawyer heard a voice behind her.

"Did he just steal your cookie?"

Sawyer turned to see Captain Baron, their patient zero, standing before her. She smiled. "Kind of," she laughed. "But it had peanut butter in it."

"You're allergic?" Baron asked. Sawyer nodded. "Me too," he said with a smile.

"You're allergic to peanuts?" Sawyer asked, flipping open the folder she still carried and scanning the pages of medical history. "I thought you said you don't have any allergies?"

"To medications," Baron clarified. "I thought the nut thing would be irrelevant, I mean, it's my knee. It's important? Oh damn, I'm so sorry."

Sawyer waved off his apology. "Oh no, it's okay. And you're right; it probably won't be relevant for a knee surgery. But in a clinical trial, it's best to know absolutely everything."

"I'm sorry," Baron repeated.

"It's alright," Sawyer smiled, making a note in his patient file. "But do you have any other allergies, Sir?"

"Tree nuts," Baron added quickly. "I'm allergic to tree nuts and peanuts. But that's it."

Sawyer smiled as she made another note in his file. "Same here," she added, flipping the folder closed. "It's a pretty common combination. And it more than likely will have absolutely no impact on your procedure. But I'd rather be safe than sorry."

Baron smiled. "That's a quality I like in a doctor."

Sawyer laughed. "I'll see you on the 18th, Sir."

"The 18th," he repeated, as he turned and limped down the hall.

**That is a wrap for chapter number four! I hope you enjoyed. It goes out with a very happy birthday wish to the absolutely wonderful Leonhart17 :) **

**Leave me a review if you have a second. You all know what they do to my face. It's an absolute plethora of smiles!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey guys. Sorry this update came a little slower than the others. As September rolls on, and I really get into the bulk of my school year the updates will, unfortunately be a little slower. I have much less fun things to write, so I have to squeeze this story in. I will try to keep the updates as steady as possible though. Hope you enjoy this one!**

"Okay. So we're down to two," Arizona said, staring at the two folders laid out on their coffee table. "Who is it?"

"Hmmm," Callie replied, reaching for a folder at random and flipping it open for the hundredth time. "Well, I do like the sound of donor 02VB445, but donor 04AE808 has a nice ring to it too."

They had narrowed it down to two potential sperm donors at this point. Both had blonde hair, blue eyes and spotless medical histories. Both had clean genetic tests and grandparents who lived to be 90. At this point, either choice should lead to a very healthy baby; so really, it was just a matter of choosing. But Callie and Arizona had narrowed it down to these two folders almost an hour ago, and were still no closer to making a decision.

"Let's go over them again," Arizona sighed, grabbing the other folder. "First, I present to you, donor 02VB445. He is currently a PhD candidate in the field of Archeology. He plays the guitar, loves camping and hiking. He describes himself as focused and driven."

"A winner by anyone's standards," Callie smiled. "But, as the challenger, I have donor 04AE808. He is a landscape architect, whose hobbies include snowboarding, volleyball, fishing and going for runs with his dog. He describes himself as easy-going and athletic."

"Right, they're both awesome," Arizona sighed. "Now if we could just pick one…"

"What's your guy's favourite movie?" Callie asked, scanning the folder she held in her hands. "It's at the bottom."

Arizona's eyes drifted to the bottom of the page. "Favourite music, Metallica, favourite movie, Die Hard. Yours?"

"His favourite music is The Beatles," Callie replied. "But his favourite movie… is Hook."

Arizona dropped her folder. "Get out," she said, sliding across the couch to read over Callie's shoulder. "He likes Hook?" she repeated. "How did I not notice that before?"

Callie shrugged. "I was pretty focused on the medical information myself. But his favourite movie is your favourite movie, Arizona. I think that's gotta be a sign."

A huge grin broke out on Arizona's face. "I think you're right."

"So the landscape architect," Callie stated with a grin to match her wife's.

"Donor number 04AE808, we have a winner," Arizona laughed as Callie pulled her towards her for a passionate kiss.

**XXXXXXXX**

It was almost overwhelming, in Callie's opinion, how quickly things moved from there. Arizona often interacted with neonatal and fertility specialists for work, so Callie simply deferred to her wife when it came to choosing their doctor. So less than two weeks after making their decision, their sperm was purchased and awaiting their use, and Dr. Wong had started them both on their first course of IVF medications.

While starting the medication had initially been exciting – the next step on their way to another baby, it quickly lost its appeal when it caused the women's menstrual cycles to sync, and their apartment literally became hormone city.

It didn't help that Captain Baron's next appointment was fast approaching, and while things had been running quite smoothly between Callie and Sawyer for the trial, Callie suddenly felt like everything they did simply wasn't good enough. It had reached the point where Sawyer was literally dreading their scheduled practice sessions in the lab. As often as possible she would hang out in the pit and jump on an emergent case right before she was due in the lab, then stay late at night to practice by herself. Today, however, had been a slow day in the ER, and with no incoming traumas, Sawyer had marched herself to the lab to suffer her fate.

"Look who decided to show up today," Callie greeted stiffly. "No hot trauma cases down in the pit for you?"

"Nope, not today," Sawyer replied with what she hoped was a pacifying smile.

"You know our practicing is important, Sawyer," Callie replied sharply.

"I know," Sawyer replied gently. "When I end up on a trauma case I always come to the lab and practice that night."

"So you just don't want to practice with me?" Callie countered.

Sawyer knew better than to answer that question. She quietly made her way to her workstation, and pulled down her equipment.

A very quiet half an hour passed between Callie and Sawyer before Arizona arrived for a visit. Callie stood gratefully when she saw her wife. She was grumpy, nauseous, and her boobs ached, and knowing that Arizona felt the same way provided some small level of comfort.

Greeting Arizona with a kiss, she caught sight of Sawyer from the corner of her eye, and spun on her heel to face the resident. "Sawyer! You're doing that WRONG!" she bellowed.

Startling at Callie's outburst, Sawyer's elbow knocked the empty beaker next to her. It teetered on the edge of the counter for a moment before the resident's quick hands snatched it out of harms way.

"What are you doing?" Callie continued. "Do you know how expensive this equipment is? You can't be breaking things!"

"But I didn't break it," Sawyer countered feebly.

"Calliope, don't yell at her!" Arizona cried, bursting into tears. She took a step towards her sister. "Is this why you won't tell us who you're dating? Because Callie's mean to you?"

"What?" Sawyer asked, her voice an octave higher than usual and looking completely dumbfounded.

"I told you she's not seeing anyone, Arizona," Callie countered. "She has a thing for our patient zero."

"What is wrong with you two?" Sawyer shouted, a look of absolute bewilderment on her face. "Seriously, you've both been PMSing for a week. The most brutal and intense PMS I've ever seen."

"We have not," Callie replied indignantly.

"Um, you cried when I killed a spider yesterday," Sawyer countered.

"I'm just stressed with the trial," Callie tried again.

"Sure," Sawyer replied sarcastically. "What's your excuse Arizona?"

"Nothing. I'm fine."

Sawyer opened her mouth to counter when her pager beeped from her hip. "Oh thank god," she sighed. "It's a 911 from the pit. I gotta go." Rising from her seat, Sawyer stopped in the doorway and turned back to the couple. "And seriously, you guys are way past Midol, so please have sex. Because the best cure for PMS, is an orgasm."

**XXXXXXXX **

Later that day, Callie and Arizona were both feeling guilty for catching Sawyer in their storm of hormones. They both resolved to make a conscious effort to curb their behavior around the resident, and hopefully avoid her right after ingesting their drugs. It was unfortunate then, when a knock sounded on their door later that night, just an hour after they'd both taken their pills.

"Hey, what's up? What are you doing here?" Callie asked, ushering Sawyer inside.

"I was at Mark's" Sawyer replied. "We were watching the Rangers game."

"Oh god, it's true," Arizona cried from the living room. "You're… Are you sleeping with Mark?"

"Excuse me?" Sawyer replied.

"You're sleeping with him, aren't you?"

"What?" Sawyer asked indignantly. "He's dating my best friend. He's my niece's dad. Jesus, Arizona, that is wrong on so many levels." She shook her head. "Okay, this is why I'm here. I'm worried about you two."

"We're fine," Callie replied quickly.

"You just accused me of sleeping with Mark," Sawyer said flatly. "Something is wrong."

"I'm sorry, Sawyer," Arizona sighed, dropping onto the couch. "That was uncalled for. Of course you're not sleeping with Mark. I know that. I'm just tired."

"Tired?" Sawyer repeated, perching on the edge of the coffee table in front of her sister while Callie took the spot on the couch beside her wife. "I'm sorry, that's not gonna cut it. Is there a gas leak in this apartment or something? That's the best I can come up with and I'm really worried about you guys."

"There's no gas leak," Callie sighed. "You were right before. It's just PMS."

"This bad for this long?" Sawyer asked. "You both know that's not normal. I'm really worried about you. Maybe you should have the hospital run some tests or something?"

Arizona smiled softly at Sawyer's concern. Her sister really and truly was an absolute sweetheart. And knowing that Sawyer's concern was only going to grow as they continued on what would likely be a long road to their baby, Arizona realized that the only way to quell Sawyer's concern would likely be the truth. Glancing to her left, Arizona could tell that Callie was coming to the same conclusion. It wouldn't be long before Sawyer's concern caused her to turn to Lexie or Mark. And that was the last thing Arizona wanted. As much as she now cared for Mark, and as amazing a father as he was to Sofia, she was really looking forward to this pregnancy being theirs – just Callie and her, and she knew Callie felt the same.

"Nothing's wrong sweetie, it's… We're on a hormone therapy," Arizona finally said.

"A hormone therapy?" Sawyer asked.

Callie reached over and linked her fingers with Arizona's. "We want to have another baby."

Sawyer's eyes widened. "Oh my god, you guys, that's amazing!" she cried, bouncing up from her perch on the table to hug them both at once. Callie and Arizona laughed. Sitting back down with a mega watt grin on her face, Sawyer continued, "This is fantastic. I'm so happy for you two! Oh my god, I'm gonna be an aunt again!" She paused as a realization dawned on her. "Wait, why are you both on hormone therapy?"

Arizona gave Callie's hand a little squeeze. "We're doing IVF donation. The drugs I'm taking ready my eggs for donation, Callie's drugs prepare her uterus for the implantation."

Sawyer's smile grew impossibly larger, and she leaned forward to hug the couple again. "This is so awesome," she beamed. "Have you chosen a sperm donor yet?"

Callie nodded. "You're sitting on his profile."

Lifting her hip, Sawyer slipped the folder out from underneath herself. Scanning it quickly, she giggled. "Aiming for a little Arizona clone are we?"

Callie grinned. "Absolutely," she replied, kissing her wife's cheek.

Flipping the folder closed, Sawyer smiled. "Well then I'm sure you'll have a beautiful baby. I bet you were a pretty cute little kid," she joked, nudging her sister's knee with her own.

"Oh she was," Callie replied. "I was going through pictures last night." Sawyer raised her eyebrows and Callie laughed. "I'll go get them," she said, heading towards the bedroom.

"Hey," Arizona said gently, placing a hand on Sawyer's knee. Sawyer turned her attention back to her sister. "You can't tell anyone about this, okay? Not even Mark."

Sawyer smiled and placed her hand over Arizona's. "I won't say a word."

Returning with a large, bound photo album, Callie passed the pictures to Arizona. Sawyer moved from her perch on the coffee table to sit beside her sister, and Callie dropped down on Arizona's other side. Flipping open the album, Arizona realized that she'd never shown Sawyer any pictures of her childhood before. When Arizona had first learned that Sawyer's childhood had been abusive, she'd been loath to speak of her own, happy childhood. She'd eventually gotten over that hang up, and she spoke of her childhood often, but only in passing, or when it came up in conversation. She'd never gone out of her way like this before.

Sawyer grinned as Arizona flipped through the pages. The first part of the book was pictures of Timothy as a baby, and a few pages in, Arizona joined her big brother. Sawyer paused at a picture of a two year old Arizona toddling through a sprinkler. "Wow," she said, looking at the photo more closely.

"What?" Callie asked.

"Nothing, it's just… that could actually be me…" She squinted closer. "Seriously, it's kinda crazy how much we used to look alike."

Arizona smiled and continued flipping, pausing to tell a story if a picture sparked a particular memory.

"What's this one?" Sawyer asked, pointing. The picture showed a roughly 13-year-old Timothy in a hospital bed. Ten-year-old Arizona wearing all the hospital equipment she could find; gown, scrub cap, and stethoscope, standing beside him.

"Tim fell out of our neighbour's tree house. He tore his rotator cuff to shreds and had to have an arthroscopic repair. My parents were really worried, but Tim and I were loving it. Tim had this birthmark on his shoulder shaped like an egg. The scar from the procedure went right through it, cut it in half, so Tim started calling it his _scrambled egg_." Arizona laughed. "At 13 he though that was pretty clever. And me, I loved hospitals, playing with all of the equipment. When Tim's surgeon caught me eyeing all the instruments, he brought me my own gown and scrub cap to wear, and he got me a stethoscope. I was thrilled."

Sawyer smiled at the story and glanced at the picture again, this time reading the caption below it: _Timothy and Dr. AJ_.

"Who's AJ?" Sawyer asked.

"Me," Arizona replied.

"Really?" Callie asked.

Arizona sighed. "We moved a lot. It was hard enough being the new girl all the time, let alone the new girl with the weird name. I got kind of self conscious about my name around fourth grade or so, so I started going by my initials."

"Didn't stick?" Sawyer asked.

"Not really," Arizona replied. "When my report card came out it had my full name on it. I found that kids tease you even worse if they realize you're trying to hide your weird name. So AJ was a short phase. Timothy was the only one who ever called me AJ after those few months where I tried going by it. I always kinda liked that though. It made it special."

"What's the J for?" Sawyer asked.

"Joy," Arizona replied. "It's my grandmother's name. And my mom's middle name too."

The three of them continued to flip through the photo album until Sawyer noticed that it was after midnight.

"Damn, I should really get going," she sighed, rising from the couch to stretch and yawn. Callie and Arizona walked Sawyer to the door, and she gave them both a big hug. "I really am incredibly happy for you guys," she smiled.

"Thanks," Arizona replied.

With that, Sawyer took her leave, and Arizona smiled as she watched her go.

"I'm still PMSing," Callie whispered in Arizona's ear as they swung the door shut behind Sawyer.

"Still?" Arizona asked.

Callie nodded. "I heard something interesting today though."

"What's that?" Arizona asked.

"That an orgasm will cure PMS," Callie replied, raising an eyebrow.

Arizona smirked. "Interesting… I think we should test this theory."

**Hit that lovely blue button if you have a minute folks! I've got some not so fun writing to do now – this paper is due on Tuesday. Your reviews propel me through!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Again, I'm sorry for the slower publishing. Not only do I have school work to contend with now, I also have my grad school applications coming up due in about a month, so I've been working like a crazy person on those too. I promise, I am trying to find time to write though!**

Before they knew it, two weeks had gone past, and the date of Captain Baron's second appointment was upon them. Callie had been anxious to begin the next phase of the trial all week, and coupled with her crazy hormones, she'd been just about unbearable at times. Now that she was armed with the knowledge that Callie and Arizona were both so moody in pursuit of another baby, Sawyer had become far more tolerant of their erratic behavior. Other members of the hospital, however, were not feeling so forgiving. As Sawyer spent such a great deal of time with Callie and Arizona, she'd been the first to notice the difference in their behavior. But now Mark, Lexie, and even Alex (who often fell victim to Arizona's hormones) were beginning to ask questions, and it had mostly fallen on Sawyer to provide the answers.

Today had been relatively calm thus far though. Arizona had the day off; Sawyer hoped she was relaxing at home with Sofia. While a simple tibia fracture was all Callie had had on her plate this morning, before Captain Baron's arrival after lunch. Unfortunately though, lunchtime meant another round of hormones…

"What they need is some new blood in goal," Mark said.

"What's wrong with Lundqvist?" Avery asked. "He won the Vezina last year. He's playing great."

Callie was sitting at a cafeteria table with Avery, Mark and Sawyer, staring at her food and paying little attention to yet another conversation about hockey that was going on around her. Her attention was currently focused on not vomiting the little of her lunch she had managed to stomach thus far.

"Lundqvist's fine," Mark continued. "But they have no prospects to take his place when he starts going downhill. They need to be building that now."

"Yeah, Sloan's right," Sawyer agreed. "Biron was great when he played in Philly, but that was like 5 years ago, and he's gotta be retiring soon. They need to start worrying about at least a new back up for Lundqvist."

"Ugh, can we stop talking about Lunktist or whoever," Callie spat, iteration dripping from her tone.

"You'd like Lundqvist," Sawyer tried. "He's really hot."

"I'm gay," Callie spat. "And I hate hockey."

Mark looked over at Callie with alarm. His best friend never spoke like that. "What do you mean you hate hockey?"

"I mean I hate hockey. I hate the cold. I'm from Miami, Mark."

"But you love hockey players," Mark tried to reason. "They get all the best fractures."

"They're idiots," Callie countered. "Punching each other and running around on ice."

"Skating," Mark corrected.

"Stupid!" Callie shouted. "It's dangerous! Sofia is never going skating ever. Or playing hockey. And I swear if either of you ever tries to take her I'll kill you," she finished pointing at Mark and Sawyer.

"What?" Mark asked in disbelief.

"You heard me!" Callie yelled, rising from the table and storming away.

"What the hell was that?" Mark asked in bewilderment.

Sawyer chewed on her straw. "I'm pretty sure it has something to do with the case Arizona had last week."

"What case?" Avery asked.

"10 year old playing pick-up hockey without a helmet," Sawyer lied. "Took a puck to the head. They think he might have permanent brain damage."

"That's rough," Mark replied sympathetically. "So no hockey talk in front of the moms for a little while."

"Safe bet," Sawyer replied, making sure to maintain eye contact. She'd never been a great liar, although she'd been getting a lot more practice at it lately.

"Can do," Mark said, rising and leaving Sawyer and Avery to finish their lunches.

**XXXXXXXX**

Sawyer found Callie an hour later, in her office doing paperwork.

"Hey," Sawyer greeted tentatively from the doorway.

"Hi," Callie sighed, barely looking up. "C'mon in." Sawyer pulled the door shut behind her and took a seat in one of the chairs in front of Callie's desk. "I was pretty bad at lunch, wasn't I?" Callie asked, finally dropping her pen.

"Yeah, pretty bad," Sawyer grimaced. "Especially because we all know that Orthos love hockey season."

"Damn," Callie grimaced. "What did Mark say?"

"I told him that Arizona had a potentially brain damaged kid last week from a hockey accident, so you were just feeling a little sensitive. You should probably tell Arizona that, just in case Mark mentions it, but I think he believed me."

Callie sighed in relief. "Thank you, Sawyer."

"No problem," Sawyer smiled.

"So you ready to go see Captain Baron then?" Callie asked, rising from her desk.

"Yep," Sawyer replied, following Callie out the door.

"You must be excited," Callie mused as they made their way down the hall.

"Excited for what?" Sawyer asked.

"To see Captain Baron again," Callie smirked.

Sawyer rolled her eyes.

Callie laughed. "Oh, c'mon, we're giving him a physical today! You can stare at him all you want!"

"Oh my god, I told you it's not like that!" Sawyer replied. "I'm not interested."

"I don't believe you," Callie mocked in a sing-song voice.

Sawyer heaved an exaggerated sigh and Callie laughed as they made their way into the exam room where Captain Baron was waiting.

Hoping to his feet when the two doctors entered the room, Captain Baron greeted Callie and Sawyer with a grin.

"We know your knee hurts, Captain," Callie said with a smile. "You don't need to stand every time you see us. It's not good for the joint."

Baron smiled sheepishly. "Sorry ma'am. Habit."

"It's okay, Captain," Callie replied.

"Oh, please call me Mitchell," Baron replied.

"All right, Mitchell," Callie began. "Today we'll be performing a basic physical exam. I know you had to have one performed by a military doctor to be selected to participate in this trial, so the big things, like the hearing loss in the left year or the repair to the left rotator cuff, we're already aware of. But as your surgeons, we'd like to perform our own exam as well. Just to make sure we're aware of absolutely everything."

"And by everything, you mean _everything_, right?" Baron asked. "Like the nuts too?"

Callie looked confused.

"Yes, just like the nuts," Sawyer replied. "Captain Baron has a nut allergy," she added to Callie. "It will probably amount to nothing," Sawyer continued. "But you are the very first patient that this procedure has ever been performed on, so we can't say for certain what will and won't be relevant. There is a certain amount of organic matter in the artificial cartilage we're using. There's no reason that it should affect a nut allergy, but we can't say for certain that it won't. It's better for us to know than to not know."

Callie nodded her agreement. "Okay then, let's get started," she said as her pager went off. Glancing down at the device on her hip, Callie frowned. "I'm not on call," she muttered, ignoring the page. A minute later it sounded again. "Why is the pit paging me?" Callie asked Sawyer. "I'm not on call."

"I'll find out," Sawyer replied, excusing herself to use the phone.

"Sorry about that, Mitchell," Callie smiled, turning her attention back to her patient.

"Not a problem," he replied good-naturedly. "This is a hospital. You're busy doctors. I'm sure there are people here who are a whole lot worse off than me who could use your attention."

"Callie," Sawyer called from the doorway. She motioned for the attending to join her.

"What's wrong?" Callie asked, joining Sawyer in the hall.

"Four brothers, all under the age of nine, tied towels around their necks, climbed out a second story window and jumped off the roof of their house together," Sawyer related grimly.

"Oh my god," Callie replied.

"They're all alive, but have a massive amount of broken bones. They need every available orthopedic surgeon right now."

"Yeah, I guess so," Callie said. "Okay. I have to go then. You can handle the physical by yourself?"

"Yeah, of course," Sawyer nodded.

Callie smirked.

"Seriously, I told you I don't have a thing for this guy. Get your mind out of the gutter, Torres," Sawyer reprimanded with an eye roll.

"I can't help it," Callie shrugged. "It's the only good thing about these hormones."

Returning to the room, Callie addressed their patient. "I'm sorry Mitchell, but I'm needed on an emergent case right now. Dr. Logan will have to perform the physical by herself if that's okay with you."

"Certainly. Yes, that's fine," Baron replied.

"Excellent. Okay, I'll see you at our next appointment then," Callie finished, taking her leave of the room to hurry off to surgery.

"Okay, Captain Baron - "

"Mitchell," Baron corrected.

"Sorry, Mitchell," Sawyer smiled. "I guess we can start at the top and work our way down. If you wouldn't mind changing into the gown," Sawyer gestured to the hospital gown folded up at the end of the exam table, "and I'll be back in a minute," Sawyer said, leaving the room to give the Captain privacy to change.

Returning a few minutes later, Sawyer grabbed her instruments, and began the step-by-step process of a physical exam. Shining a light in Baron's eyes, Sawyer remarked, "You wear contacts."

"Um, yeah," Baron replied.

"I'll just note the prescription here," Sawyer said, picking up her pen.

"There's, uh, there's no prescription," Baron replied. "They're colour contacts. My eyes are two different colours and I've always been really self conscious about it."

"Oh, okay, that's fine," Sawyer replied, replacing her pen. Noticing a change in the patients behavior Sawyer added, "Really Mitchell, it's not a big deal."

"It's just a little embarrassing," Baron sighed. "I'm a Marine, I shouldn't care about something like my mismatched eyes."

"We all have things that bother us," Sawyer replied reassuringly as she moved to inspect the Captain's ears. "I have a scar just above my elbow that I don't like. I try to wear long sleeves to cover it, and I'm from Vegas. Summers are brutally hot there but I'd still try to cover that scar. I'd be walking around in 90 degree weather in long sleeves, sweating like crazy, but I'd still prefer that to showing off my scar."

"Well at least I'm not the only one," Baron smiled.

"Definitely not," Sawyer replied. "Speaking of scars, you have one on your jaw here." Sawyer drew her finger along the short scar just under Baron's jaw line. "How'd you get that?"

"Jumping on the couch when I was a kid," Baron replied. "Fell off and caught my chin on the coffee table."

"And this one under your eye?" Sawyer asked, making a note in Baron's file about the scar on his chin.

"Caught a hockey stick in the face," he replied.

Sawyer glanced at the scar again. It didn't look like any hockey cut she'd ever seen before. It was too straight. Too clean. It looked surgical in her opinion. Glancing back at the scar on his chin, she realized the same was true of that scar too. It was too perfect. No naturally occurring cut would leave a scar that neat.

"Is everything okay?" Baron asked, rousing Sawyer from her thoughts.

"Oh, yeah," Sawyer replied, mentally shaking herself. "Sorry. I was just talking about hockey before lunch is all."

"You a hockey fan?" Baron asked.

Sawyer nodded.

"Who's your team?" he asked.

"Rangers," Sawyer smiled.

"Boo," Baron joked.

"Who's yours?" Sawyer chuckled.

"Philly!" Baron cheered.

Just then, Sawyer's pager beeped. Glancing down, she saw that it was a 911 to the pit. When she'd called earlier they'd warned her that they might need more hands because of the number of surgeons those four injured brothers needed.

"Do you have to go?" Baron asked.

"I do. I'm sorry. A lot of doctors got pulled in on the trauma case Dr. Torres was pulled away for so the ER is operating short handed."

"I understand," Baron replied. "When do you want me to come back in?"

"Would tomorrow work for you?" Sawyer asked. "Same time?"

"Sure," Baron nodded.

"Okay. I'm really sorry for the inconvenience Capt- Mitchell," Sawyer corrected herself when she caught Baron's eye. "We'll pick this up again tomorrow then."

As Sawyer hurried from the exam room down to the ER, she couldn't help but feel conflicted. Baron was kind, friendly, easy-going, and polite – she genuinely liked him. Yet she couldn't shake the feeling that he was hiding something when he lied about those surgical scars. _Maybe he thought whatever the procedure was it would disqualify him from the trial_, Sawyer mused to herself.

"Hey." Sawyer was shaken from her thoughts as a voice grabbed her attention.

"Hey," Sawyer smiled when her eyes fell on her roommate and best friend.

"You headed to the pit?" Lexie asked. Sawyer nodded. "Me too," the older resident smiled.

As the two surgeons made their was down to the ER Sawyer turned to Lexie. "Hey, question," she asked.

"Shoot," Lexie replied.

"What kind of surgery would give you a scar here?" she asked, touching the spot just below her eye.

"Ummm, sometimes neurosurgeons will take certain types of meningioma out through an incision there. There might be some other types of brain tumors too. I can ask Derek if you like?"

"Could you?" Sawyer replied. Lexie nodded. "What about a scar here?" Sawyer pointed to her chin under the jaw line.

"Not sure," Lexie shook her head. "I'd ask Mark about that one. It would be an ear-nose-throat surgeon if the incision was there, I think."

Sawyer nodded. She sometimes forgot that Mark was a dual certified plastics and ENT surgeon.

"Why do you ask?" Lexie asked as they rounded the corner into the pit.

"Oh, nothing, I just noticed them on a guy. I'm curious," Sawyer lied. She loved Lexie, but if she voiced her suspicions about Baron to Lexie, Lexie would tell Mark. And Mark would tell Callie. And Callie would freak out. And the last thing Sawyer wanted was to stress Callie out any more than she already was.

"Oh, okay," Lexie replied with a smile before the chaos that was the ER swallowed them both.

**So are you all as stoked as I am for the premiere tomorrow? I am seriously excited folks!**

**Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this little installment. I'll try to have the next one up as fast as I can. Leave me a review if you can! You know I love them ;) **


	7. Chapter 7

**Sorry for the long wait with this one. I had to write this chapter and chapter 8 at the same time b/c I wasn't sure exactly what order things were going to happen in. So I had to do a little fidgeting back and forth between chapters. On the bright side though, I have chapter 8 all done, so that wait won't be long at all!**

A large portion of the SGMW surgeons were kept busy by the four super-hero brothers, and thus, being short staffed, Sawyer and Lexie were kept occupied in the pit long after they were scheduled to leave the hospital. Exhaustedly trudging home together, they were greeted with the sound of music coming from what should have been their empty apartment.

"Did you leave that on this morning?" Lexie asked, tiredly searching for her key.

"I don't think so," Sawyer replied, reaching forward to try the door and finding it unlocked. "And I definitely locked that."

Tentatively pushing open the door, both surgeons were a little relieved when they were greeted with the sight of Mark, dancing around their kitchen.

"Welcome home ladies," Mark grinned, greeting Lexie with a kiss. "I made you dinner."

"Me too?" Sawyer asked hopefully. It wasn't that she had a huge desire to third wheel on their date. But she was exhausted and hungry, and if she had to sit and watch them eat a nice, home cooked meal while she waited for the take-out she would inevitably order, it was going to make her very cranky.

"Of course you too, Soy Sauce," Mark smiled. "Now sit, both of you. I made us a nice lobster risotto - "

"You made lobster?" Lexie asked, with a look that said she had instantly fallen in love with Mark all over again. Mark's love of cooking had developed while he and Lexie were apart, and Lexie sometimes joked that their split had been worth it since it had unearthed Mark's cooking ability.

"I saw them crawling around the tank this afternoon and I thought I'd give it a go," Mark replied with a (semi) feigned modesty.

"You rock, Sloan," Sawyer smiled, dropping bonelessly into a chair at the table while Mark served up their dinner.

They were halfway through what Sawyer thought was the best food she'd ever eaten (although that might have been the fatigue and extreme hunger talking) when Lexie interrupted the easily flowing conversation.

"Oh, Sawyer, I almost forgot," she said. "I asked Derek about that scar and he said that a meningioma was the only thing he could think of that would leave a scar here," she said, pointing to her eye.

"Right, thanks, that doesn't ever cause your eyes to change colour by chance, does it?" Sawyer asked.

"Not that I've ever heard of," Lexie replied. "No, as far as I know there's no way that would happen."

Sawyer nodded and turned to Mark. "Mark, do you know what type of surgery would leave you with a scar right here?" she asked, drawing a line under her jaw.

"That close to the chin?" Mark asked.

Sawyer nodded.

"That's an odd place to go in for a jaw repair… Are these scars on the same person?"

Sawyer nodded again.

Mark paused to think for a moment before he took Lexie's face in his hands and gently drew the lines with his fingers. "It's cheek and chin augmentation."

Sawyer started. "Plastic surgery?"

Mark nodded, "There's no reason to enter that close to the chin, unless the chin was the target. I suppose it's possible this person has had chin implants _and_ had a meningioma removed too. But I would guess that cheek implants are far more likely."

"Right… yeah, that makes sense," Sawyer replied, her brain whirring a mile a minute. Captain Baron had had cheek and chin implants? That didn't feel right to her. Wearing coloured contacts was one thing but facial plastic surgery as well? That felt wrong. And why would he hide those surgeries? _Embarrassed by his vanity perhaps_, Sawyer mused. But she couldn't shake the feeling in her gut that something more was going on here.

"Whose scars are we diagnosing anyways?" Mark asked, rousing Sawyer from her thoughts.

"What? Oh, no one," Sawyer replied quickly. "Just some guy I saw in the lobby today with surgical scars. I was just curious."

"Oh, okay, sure," Mark replied. "So, did you guys hear about McGinley's wife…"

Thankful that Mark was such a gossip, Sawyer pushed her food around her plate, suddenly much less hungry, and thought about Captain Baron.

**XXXXXXXX **

Callie too, arrived home hours late and completely exhausted. She and Kepner had operated on the oldest brother for eight hours, but he was stable when Callie left. Callie quietly pushed open the door to their apartment, and Arizona looked up from her book when she heard to door click.

"Hey," she greeted, setting the book down and rising from the couch.

"Hi," Callie sighed, wrapping her wife in a hug and dropping her forehead to Arizona's shoulder tiredly.

"Rough day?" Arizona asked, rubbing circles on Callie's back and placing a kiss to her temple.

Callie nodded without lifting her head.

"Hungry?" Arizona asked.

Callie nodded again.

"I saved you some supper. I'll warm it up for you."

"Thank you," Callie sighed, lifting her head from Arizona's shoulder and leaning forward to kiss her wife.

As Arizona heated the food, Callie crept silently into a sleeping Sofia's room to place a goodnight kiss on her little cheek. She watched her sleep for a minute, thankful that her own baby was safe and sound, before quietly pulling the door halfway shut behind her.

Finding food and wine waiting for her at the table, Callie beamed. "You're a saint," she said, sitting across from Arizona and digging into her meal.

"How'd it go with Captain Baron today?" Arizona asked.

Callie shook her head. "It didn't. We went to start the physical but I got paged to a trauma. I asked Sawyer to do it without me, but she barely got started before she got paged too, so we had to reschedule for tomorrow."

"Big trauma?" Arizona asked, relieved that she hadn't been paged in on her day off.

Callie related the tale of the four little boys. "My patient, Joshua, he was in pretty good shape when I left. But the other three were all still in surgery."

Arizona sighed, knowing what she had to look forward to at work tomorrow.

**XXXXXXXX**

Sure enough, the first thing Alex did when Arizona arrived at the hospital the next day was to update her on the super-hero brothers. Joshua, Callie's patient, had remained stable throughout the night, and had been moved from the ICU that morning. Despite Alex and Bailey's best efforts, the second son, Nathan, hadn't made it off the table. Caleb, the third son, was in serious but stable condition in the ICU after being operated on by Webber and Meredith Grey. The youngest boy, Noah, had been operated on by Hunt and was going to need follow up surgery today.

Arizona committed the names of the boys as well as the surgeons who had operated on them to memory, because she knew that every little bit helped when your children were hurting. A doctor who could talk to parents without constantly referring to their patient files inspired a lot more confidence than one who did.

She was due to take little Noah back into surgery at 12:00, but before she did, she updated the parents on their three remaining boys, and offered her condolences for the loss of the fourth. And things were going fine, until she walked into Noah's room. When Arizona laid eyes on that tiny little three-year-old boy with white blonde hair and bright blue eyes, her heart stopped. Her stomach climbed in her throat and she couldn't breathe.

"Karev," she managed.

"Yeah?"

"Can you handle the pre-op yourself?" Arizona asked, fighting to keep the panic from her voice.

"Uh, sure," Karev replied.

Without another word Arizona left a somewhat bewildered Alex with their patient. She rushed down the hall, desperate for some privacy, somewhere where she could lose her composure, and somewhere where she could page Callie.

**XXXXXXXX**

When Callie received a page to her wife's office just before lunch, she'd been hoping that the pregnancy hormones were acting up, and that Arizona needed Callie to provide some _relief_. Letting herself into Arizona's office, the flirtatious smile fell off of Callie's face when she was greeted with the sight of Arizona in tears.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Callie asked, hurrying to pull the blonde into a hug.

Arizona buried her face against Callie's neck and cried for a moment before she could answer. "Did you see him?" she finally managed.

"See who?" Callie prompted gently.

"Noah. The little boy. The youngest brother."

"I didn't see him," Callie replied. "I only operated on the oldest boy."

Arizona opened her mouth to reply when a knock sounded at the door, and Sawyer poked her head inside.

"Hey Callie, Captain Baron's gonna be here any minute. Are you ready to – oh" Sawyer stopped short when she saw the couple.

Arizona stepped away from Callie. "I'm fine. You go. You have your trial."

Callie glanced at Sawyer.

"It's just a physical. I can do it myself," Sawyer said quickly.

"No, I'm being stupid. It's these ridiculous hormones," Arizona replied.

"You're not stupid," Callie chided gently. "You're okay, Sawyer?"

"Absolutely," Sawyer nodded. "I'll find you and fill you in when I'm done."

"Thank you," Callie nodded as Sawyer closed the door.

"Come sit," Callie said, leading Arizona to the couch.

Arizona sighed, dropping into the seat beside Callie. "You should go to your trial."

"It's a physical, Arizona. It's no big deal. Talk to me, please. Tell me what happened with that little boy."

"Nothing happened," Arizona replied. "I just have to operate on him in half an hour and he's…"

"He's what?" Callie asked.

"He looks like me," Arizona finally supplied. "He could be my son, Callie. Our son could look just like that and I…"

Callie put an arm around Arizona's shoulders.

"One of his brothers is already gone. His parents are going through the worst experience of their lives. It just hit me. I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry," Callie replied, pulling Arizona in for another hug. When they'd first gotten together, Arizona's tiny coffin dreams had been vague, faceless nightmares. The birth of Sofia had provided a face to those dreams, and now, it sometimes got to Arizona if she had a patient who looked too much like their daughter. It dawned on Callie now that another baby meant adding a new face to Arizona's nightmares, a new type of patient for her to dread. She hugged her tighter. "What time's your surgery?"

"12:00," Arizona replied.

"Okay," Callie replied, settling against the back of the couch. "Let's just sit here until then, 'kay?"

Arizona nodded and settled against her wife.

**XXXXXXXX**

"Hello Mitchell," Sawyer greeted, entering the exam room.

"Dr. Logan," Baron replied. When Sawyer shut the door behind her, Baron asked, "No Dr. Torres today?"

"I'm afraid not," Sawyer replied. "She had a personal matter that needed attending to. I hope that's okay with you? I can reschedule if you'd rather she be here."

"No, no, that's fine," Baron replied.

"Great," Sawyer replied, flipping open Baron's file to the page she'd left off on the day before. He was already wearing the hospital gown, so they were free to get started. "If you could hop up off the table for me, Mitchell," Sawyer prompted. Baron stood. "I'm just going to check your spine."

As she moved her hands up his vertebrae, Sawyer explained her actions. "Your posture, the way your carry yourself, has a direct impact on the wear of your joints, especially yours knees," she clarified. "If there are any irregularities, I need to make a note."

Working her way from the bottom to the top, Sawyer's hands manipulated the spine beneath them. As she reached his neck, the gown slipped to the left, exposing Baron's shoulder.

"This scar on your shoulder?" Sawyer prompted, as her hands continued to work up Baron's spine.

"From the rotator cuff repair," Baron replied.

"Hmm," Sawyer acknowledged. "Right through the birthmark."

"Yeah," Baron laughed. "That's my scrambled egg."

Sawyer's hands froze. "Excuse me?" she asked.

"That birthmark used to be shaped like an egg," Baron clarified. "After I had the surgery and it got messed up, I started calling it my scrambled egg. I thought I was pretty funny."

Sawyer pulled her hands away and snatched up Baron's file. _Arthroscopic repair to left rotator cuff – age 13._

Sawyer's heart was racing. She returned her hands to Baron's spine roughly, but she was barely aware of her actions. Her arms felt numb. Tilting the Captain's head down to examine his upper vertebrae, Sawyer eyed his hair. At the very root she saw what she'd been afraid of. The smallest hints of roots. Baron's hair was a light, sandy colour, not the dark brown he'd dyed it.

Pulling her hands away as though she'd been burned, Sawyer stumbled backwards.

"I… um, I'm sorry," Sawyer stuttered. "Would you excuse me for a moment. I'll be right back."

Baron nodded amicably as Sawyer practically sprinted from the room.

Hands shaking, Sawyer reefed open the first door she came to. Slamming the door to the supply closet behind her, Sawyer backed up against the wall and sunk to the floor.

That man in there was Timothy. Timothy Robbins. Her brother. Her dead brother. Her died nine years ago in Afghanistan brother…

**Sound off ladies and gentlemen! Some of you had already guessed. Some of you had your suspicions. But hit the blue button below with your comments, concerns, ideas, predictions…**


	8. Chapter 8

_Hands shaking, Sawyer reefed open the first door she came to. Slamming the door to the supply closet behind her, Sawyer backed up against the wall and sunk to the floor._

_That man in there was Timothy. Timothy Robbins. Her brother. Her dead brother. Her died nine years ago in Afghanistan brother… _

Sawyer felt like she was going to be sick. This didn't make any sense. Timothy was dead. He'd dived on top of a grenade to save his unit and a group of school-girls. And yet he was sitting on her exam table with dyed hair, coloured contacts, cheek and chin implants and 10 years older than the photographs Sawyer had seen of him.

_Get a grip_, Sawyer scolded herself. _You're being ridiculous_. _Timothy is dead and this is all just some weird coincidence._ But Sawyer didn't believe in coincidences this big. She rose from her spot on the floor and began pacing the supply room, trying to figure out what to do.

Ten minutes after fleeing the room, Sawyer returned, hands steady, with a plan.

"Would you take your contacts out please, Captain?" Sawyer stated, handing the Captain a contact lens container and a bottle of saline.

"What?" Baron started.

"Your contacts," Sawyer repeated. "Take them out please."

"I thought you said I wouldn't need to," Baron replied.

"I noticed a twitch in your eye," Sawyer replied. "I'll need to examine them more closely, make sure nothing's wrong."

It was a lie. Baron probably knew it too. Sawyer had been standing behind him for the entirety of the examination thus far. But people rarely defy a direct request from a doctor. Sawyer knew that this was an abuse of that power, but she was way past caring. She had to be sure.

Reluctantly, Baron pulled out his lenses and placed them in the saline solution. When he finally looked up to meet Sawyer's gaze, Sawyer's stomach dropped. She recognized those blue eyes. From the mirror.

Doing her best not to react, Sawyer picked up her instrument from the little tray and leaned in to examine Baron's eyes. She took hold of his wrist to measure his pulse when she did so. It was rapid but steady.

"Well you must just be tired, Timothy, everything looks fine. That twitch is nothing to worry about." Sawyer said nonchalantly, without releasing Baron's wrist.

"What… what did you call me?" Baron asked.

Baron's pulse skyrocketed at the name. "Your pulse is racing Captain," Sawyer stated flatly.

"Mitchell," Baron said, pulling his arm away. "My name is Mitchell."

"What'd I say?" Sawyer asked, feigning innocence.

"You said…" Baron's voice died out.

"I don't think I misspoke," Sawyer continued. "Because that's your name isn't it? Timothy Robbins?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Baron replied.

"Huh," Sawyer answered. "Well, I'm pretty sure you're my dead, half-brother. That's kind of a conflict of interest. I'm going to have to tell Dr. Torres and have myself removed from this case."

"No!" Baron cried, jumping from the exam table to block the door.

Sawyer raised an eyebrow.

"Don't tell her," Baron pleaded. "If you tell her she'll tell…" his voice faded out.

"Arizona," Sawyer supplied.

Baron hung his head, defeated.

"Say it," Sawyer demanded.

"My name is Lieutenant Colonel Timothy Robbins," he whispered.

"Oh my god," Sawyer dropped her head in her hands.

"You can't tell anyone," Timothy pleaded, stepping towards Sawyer and placing a hand on her shoulder.

Sawyer pulled away at the contact. "Seriously!" she demanded. "Seriously?"

"You weren't supposed to find out," Tim sighed.

"No shit," Sawyer snapped. "What…" She pointed at him. "You're dead."

"Not quite," Tim replied.

Sawyer shot him a look.

"The Marine Corps faked my death."

"Why?" Sawyer demanded.

"I'm part of a highly trained, highly classified unit," Tim replied. "And that's all I can say."

Sawyer looked unimpressed. "No," she said flatly.

"Excuse me?" Tim asked.

"No. That's not good enough. I don't care how classified you are. I want a real answer."

"I can't give you one."

"Then I'm telling Arizona and Callie."

"No!" Timothy jumped in front of the door again. "You can't tell them. You don't understand."

"You're damn right I don't understand!" Sawyer shouted.

"Lower your voice," Tim ordered.

Sawyer shot him a look, but she spoke at a normal volume. "I don't understand. How does being in an elite unit require you to fake your death? To leave your family, to leave everyone you love, like that?"

"The Marines can't have any record of me," Tim sighed.

"So you're like Jason Bourne?"

"No," Tim shook his head. "I'm way more classified than Jason Bourne."

Sawyer dropped defeatedly into a plastic chair. "But you're injured," she argued. "How can you be Jason Bourne if you walk with a cane?"

"First off, Jason Bourne was some experimental assassin. I want you to know that that's not what I do. As for the cane," he looked grudgingly at the instrument leaning against the exam table, "that's why I need Dr. Torres to fix my knee."

Sawyer scoffed. "Yeah, who thought that was a good idea? Getting the sister-in-law of a dead guy to perform his knee surgery?"

Tim sighed and sat in the other plastic chair. He grabbed the saline and his contacts and quickly replaced them. "No one liked it. But it's a small world. The doctor who is pioneering the technology that can repair my knee is married to my sister. But it's the only way."

"The only way to what?" Sawyer asked.

"The only way for me to remain on active duty," Tim replied.

"Why would you want to?" Sawyer demanded. "You're hurt. You're done. You retire and - "

"And what?" Timothy interrupted. "And I just go back to being Tim Robbins? I just show up at my parents' house and say, _just kidding, guys!_ No. Timothy Robbins died in 2003. If I came back, the military would have to explain _why_ they faked my death. Every military death would come into question. The safety of other soldiers like me would be extremely compromised."

"But - " Sawyer tried.

"No," Tim snapped. "You have to fix my knee. Otherwise none of this will be worth it."

"What?"

"If my knee does put me out of commission, I will be retired. I'll get another new name, another new identity. They'll stash me somewhere and then I'm just a guy whose death was faked. I won't be helping anyone. My death has to mean something."

Sawyer gave him a look.

"You know what I mean," Tim replied.

"Oh my god," Sawyer dropped her head in her hands again.

"You can't tell anyone," Tim repeated. "I mean it, Sawyer."

Sawyer looked up when Timothy used her given name. And suddenly it hit her. "I saw you outside my apartment building. A couple weeks ago. That's why you looked familiar."

Timothy nodded. "I wanted to see what you were like. I followed you for a week."

Sawyer looked startled.

"I was… surprised when I read your name in my dad's records. I just wanted to see…" Tim offered.

Sawyer nodded. The Colonel had amended his military records to reflect that he had another daughter a few months ago. He was retired, and Sawyer was an adult, so it had very little actual reverberations. It had been a symbolic gesture more than anything else.

"Arizona is going to - " Sawyer started, but Timothy cut her off.

"No," he barked. "You're not listening. You. Can't. Tell. Anyone."

"But… You're alive…" Sawyer replied.

"No I'm not. Timothy Robbins is dead. Whether this surgery is successful or not, the minute it's over I'm going to be whisked away and I will never see her again. She will never know what is happening to me. Death is better. She gets closure. She's moved on from my death, Sawyer. You will not put her through that again."

"I didn't put her through anything," Sawyer snapped. "You did."

"I know," Tim sighed. "I never wanted to hurt her. Or my parents. But I did this for my country. And I'd do it again if I had to."

Sawyer sighed. "I'm terrible at keeping secrets."

"Oh, I think you're better than you're letting on," Tim replied. "I followed you for a week, remember?"

Realization at what Tim was alluding to dawned on Sawyer and she bit her lip. "Oh," she replied a little sheepishly.

"Just do a good job with this knee repair and I'll be gone before you know it. You can forget all about me."

"Yeah, that's likely," Sawyer replied with an eye roll.

A knock sounded at the door interrupting their heart to heart. Callie entered with her head buried in a folder. "I thought you said you'd find me when you were done, Sawyer," Callie said without looking up.

"My fault," Tim answered smoothly. "I was late getting here Dr. Torres. I'm sorry. It won't happen again."

"Oh," Callie said, closing her folder. "Captain Baron, you're still here. No, of course, that's not a problem. How far along are you in the physical Dr. Logan?"

Sawyer stared at Timothy. Her brain didn't seem to be working. The reality of the situation was hurtling towards her and she was woefully unprepared to deal with it.

"Dr. Logan?" Callie prompted.

Tim shot Sawyer a look that said _just go with it, we can talk more later_, and so, Sawyer took a deep breath, mentally shaking herself, and turned to Callie. "The spine," Sawyer stuttered. "I just finished with the spine."

"Are you alright?" Callie asked, glancing at Sawyer with concern.

"I… yeah… um… what?" Sawyer replied.

Callie handed her a pen. "Take notes, Dr. Logan. I think I'll handle the physical."

"Okay," Sawyer replied, relieved that she wouldn't have to touch Timothy.

Callie proceeded with the exam and Sawyer distractedly took notes. None of this felt real. She was so preoccupied with her own thoughts that she barely registered a word of conversation going on between Callie and Tim, and contributed nothing to the conversation herself. The only time Sawyer roused from her daze was when Callie spoke directly to her, telling her to make a note of something. And even then, Callie often had to repeat herself.

When Callie had concluded the exam, she striped off her latex gloves and threw them in the trash before turning to her sister-in-law. "I'll have a word with you in my office please, Dr. Logan."

"Okay… sure," Sawyer replied distractedly. Callie gave her an odd look as she left the room.

Sawyer made to follow her but Tim grabbed her arm, pulling her back. "Do not tell her," he hissed in her ear.

Sawyer pushed the door shut and turned to face her brother. "I have to," she replied.

"No. You can't know. You _don't_ know," Tim replied.

"But I do," Sawyer whined.

"If you tell them, if they know…" Tim rambled. "The Marines will think _I_ told you. Divulging classified information like this… I could go to prison. You would be a threat to national security. You'd make Arizona a threat to national security. Please. You were never supposed to find out. Please."

Sawyer rubbed a hand over her eyes. "Yeah, okay," she nodded. "I won't say anything."

"Thank you," Timothy sighed. "I'm sorry for putting you in this position," he added.

Sawyer scoffed. "Sure. Can I go now? I have to go get chewed out by my sister-in-law."

"Oh, right," Tim said, releasing Sawyer's arm. "Sorry," he added again.

Sawyer bolted from the room, eager to put as much distance between herself and Timothy as possible. Rounding the corner to Callie's office, Sawyer slowed her pace, took a calming breath and knocked; ready to face the music.

Entering the office, Sawyer found Callie sitting at her desk, flipping through Timothy's file. "Sit," Callie directed, closing the folder. Sawyer did as she was told. Callie sighed. "Well that was less than professional."

Sawyer looked guilty. "I'm sorry."

Callie fixed her with a stare. "Is everything okay? That's so not like you to behave like that."

Sawyer shrugged. "I dunno… I guess the coffee ran out or something."

"The coffee ran out?" Callie repeated.

Sawyer shrugged again.

"Look, you've been doing really great work so far Sawyer," Callie sighed. "We're all entitled to our off days, God knows I've had more than my share over this past couple of weeks." She made the attempt at humor but Sawyer's smile was forced. "Just don't let it happen again," Callie finished.

"I promise," Sawyer nodded.

"Good," Callie said, leaning back in her chair. "Then you can go."

Sawyer left in a hurry, eager to get home to her apartment. She needed her running shoes. She needed to clear her head. She needed to run.

**XXXXXXXX **

But the run didn't help that much. Neither did the one after that, or the one after that. Sawyer felt like one giant pent up ball of stress, and it only seemed to get worse as the approach of Timothy's next appointment for blood work drew closer. It had gotten so bad, that her strange behavior had started to overshadow that of her perpetually PMSing sister and sister-in-law.

A few days after Sawyer's discovery, she passed Callie and Arizona in the hall as the couple headed for lunch in the cafeteria.

"Hey you," Arizona beamed. "Come have lunch with us! I haven't seen you for days."

Sawyer shook her head. While it was true that she'd been avoiding Callie and Arizona for fear of saying something she wasn't supposed to, the last thing she wanted to do was sit and try to act normal with them at lunch. "I can't," she said. "I want to get a run in over my lunch break."

"You're skipping lunch?" Callie asked.

Sawyer nodded. "I need a run," she shrugged. "I'll catch you later," she added as she fled down the hall.

"What's with her?" Callie asked. "She looks stressed."

Arizona nodded. "I haven't talked to her in days. I miss her. Maybe I'll join her on her run?" she suggested, hopefully.

Callie snorted. "Oh no. You can't skip lunch missy. You know what can happen if you take these blessed little hormones on an empty stomach."

"Muscle weakness, dizziness, fainting, nausea," Arizona recited with annoyance. "I know. I just miss my sister."

"I know you do," Callie smiled. "It's sweet."

Taking a seat with Mark and Lexie, Arizona turned to the young attending. "What's up with Sawyer?" she asked.

"Mmm," Mark agreed. "She seems stressed."

"Oh, she's stressed alright," Lexie agreed over her bagel. "You should see our apartment. It's spotless. And she's running like three times a day. Isn't that kind of annoying? How productive she gets when she's stressed out? When I'm stressed I eat my body weight in chocolate and peanut butter. Sawyer cleans our apartment within an inch of its life, and exercises. Seriously, if that's what I did when I got stressed, I'd be stressed all the time."

Mark followed Lexie's ramble with a little smile on his face. "She needs to get laid," he stated bluntly.

"Mark," Arizona admonished. "That's my sister," she said, swatting his arm.

"She's a grown woman with needs, just like you," Mark replied with a smirk. He stopped smiling at the look Callie and Arizona were sending him and took a bite out of his apple. "Whatever," he shrugged. "She needs some action."

**So. For those of you who don't know, this weekend is Canadian Thanksgiving. This will mean 1 of 2 things. Either I'm so busy with Thanksgiving stuff that I do nothing on this story. Or. To escape all the family, I hide out with my laptop and get a lot done on this story. So. If there is a longer delay in the next update, you'll know that I ate so much turkey that I didn't have the energy to type. ;) But until then. Leave me a review amigos!**


	9. Chapter 9

A knocking on her door at 5:30 in the morning was not how Sawyer had wanted to wake up. Her stress level had been so high over the past week and a half that she'd barely been sleeping, and an interruption of what little sleep she did manage to salvage was not welcome. Pulling open the door to her apartment, Sawyer was surprised to find Callie, Arizona and Sofia on the other side. Lack of sleep and a general confusion meant that blinking twice at the little family was the best greeting Sawyer could come up with.

"Morning," Arizona replied chipperly, breezing past Sawyer and into her apartment with Sofia on her hip.

Sawyer didn't move as her sister and niece brushed past her. Her brain was still cloudy with sleep.

Taking in her sister-in-law's appearance and general confusion Callie asked, "Did you forget we were coming this morning?"

"Um…yeah," Sawyer admitted, because a lie at this point would be rather see-through given her pajamas and bed-head.

"We have an appointment with Dr. Wong this morning," Arizona supplied as Callie entered the apartment and shut the door behind her.

"But… what time is it?" Sawyer asked, still confused.

"Quarter to six," Callie answered. "But her office is in Olympia…"

"Right, right," Sawyer nodded. "Because there are no good fertility specialists in Seattle." Her remarks came out harsher than intended and Arizona flinched.

"You said you were okay to watch Sofia," Arizona tried softly. "Because we didn't want to have to explain to Mark where we were going…"

Sawyer softened. "I'm sorry. I am okay to watch Sofia. I'm always okay to watch Sofia. I've just been busy. I forgot what day it was."

"Kiddo, are you okay?" Callie asked, looking at Sawyer with concern. "You've seemed off lately. Distant. Stressed. Is everything alright?"

Arizona bounced Sofia on her hip and mirrored Callie's expression of concern.

Sawyer sighed. "I'm fine. Just busy and tired."

Callie nodded, not really believing her. "Mark thinks you need to get laid," she said, going for the joke.

"I get laid," Sawyer replied sleepily.

"Excuse me?" Arizona replied, shifting Sofia to her other hip and looking expectantly at her sister.

"I do just fine," Sawyer clarified, "I always have. You don't need to worry about me. Don't you two need to get going?" she added, reaching for Sofia and eager to usher the couple out of her apartment before her sleep-deprived brain said something else it shouldn't.

"Uh, yeah we do actually," Callie replied, eying Sawyer suspiciously.

Callie and Arizona gave Sofia her good-bye kisses and went over the instructions to drop Sofia off at daycare that Sawyer was already perfectly familiar with. They were almost out the door before Callie wheeled around.

"Oh, jeeze, I almost forgot. Captain Baron's blood work appointment, the hospital had to move it up today, so I might not be back in time. Are you okay to handle that by yourself?"

"Sure," Sawyer nodded, flinching internally at the mention of "Captain Baron".

"Great, thanks," Callie smiled as she and Arizona disappeared down the hall.

Sighing down at Sofia, Sawyer said, "You know, maybe this is a good thing, because Auntie Sawyer and _Captain Baron_ need to have a serious chat. A chat that your Mami definitely can't be there for."

"Chee-hoes?" Sofia replied.

"Of course I have cheerios," Sawyer said with mock offence. "You think Auntie Sawyer lives in the slums? I'm a surgeon too you know. I might not make the big bucks like your mommies, but I would never deprive myself of cheerios."

"Now," Sofia nodded.

"Yes ma'am" Sawyer grinned, kissing her niece's nose.

**XXXXXXXX **

Sawyer was rushing when she made her way to Timothy's blood work appointment. For whatever reason, Sofia had had an unusual amount of separation anxiety this morning. She was usually great when it came to daycare – she loved the caregivers and all of her little friends. But she'd had such a fun morning with her Auntie Sawyer that she'd screamed and wailed when Sawyer attempted to drop her off. It had taken Sawyer half an hour to get her settled into daycare, and so she was basically sprinting as she made her way down the hall to the exam room where she knew Timothy was waiting.

Wrenching open the door, she found him sitting on an exam table, idly staring at the ceiling.

"Sorry I'm late," Sawyer said, catching the door with the back of her heel in an attempt to pull it closed without dropping the pile of files and instruments she carried. "My niece was not impressed with daycare this morning."

"Is Dr. Torres not coming?" Tim asked.

"No. That's why I inherited the task of taking my niece to daycare," Sawyer replied smoothly.

"Is everything okay?" Tim asked, concern etched on his features.

Sawyer looked at him flatly. "You don't get to ask those kinds of questions. I'm not going to be some window into their life for you. You gave up that right."

Timothy raised his hands in surrender, "Sorry. I wasn't trying to pry. And for the record, I would have asked if everything was okay regardless of any kind of relationship. That's just how I am. I'm a decent guy."

Sawyer rounded on him with an angry look on her face. "Don't you dare talk to me about decency. You are the farthest thing from _decent_ as far as I'm concerned. And what's worse is you've brought me down to your level. I'm lying to my sister and it makes me sick."

"Look, I'm sorry I've put you in this position, but you have to understand that it's for the best. This is what's best for Arizona."

"I really don't think you give a crap about what's best for Arizona. You're just concerned with keeping your secret." Sawyer spat back.

"I am concerned with that," Tim admitted. "I honestly never thought anyone would figure it out."

"Maybe you shouldn't go around sharing childhood memories then," Sawyer replied flippantly.

Tim sighed. "Actually, when you adopt a new identity, you're encouraged to keep memories like that. It helps to minimize the amount of lies you need to keep straight. I… I told you that egg story without thinking. I just… It never occurred to me that you would have heard that story before. I didn't realize that you and Arizona had that kind of a relationship."

"Well we do," Sawyer replied shortly.

"And that's great," Tim smiled with just a little too much force. "I'm glad she has that again. A sibling, a friend…"

"You don't get to be jealous," Sawyer replied strongly, sensing the emotion beneath the surface. "You had a relationship with her, one that mine could never begin to parallel, and you gave it up."

"I'm not," Tim replied stiffly.

"Sure… whatever Timothy," Sawyer shrugged. "Roll up your sleeve, I need to take some blood."

"You really shouldn't call me that," Tim said, pushing his grey sweater up to his bicep. "If you get in the habit of using that name you're more likely to slip up in front of someone."

"I'll call you whatever I want," Sawyer bit off harshly. "Because your name is bubbling in the pit of my stomach every minute of every day. It's constantly on the tip of my tongue. And if I don't get to use it here, with you, it's just going to boil over some day. So I will call you Timothy or Tim or even Timmy if it suits me." Sawyer snapped the rubber arm cuff around her brother's arm far harsher than necessary, but Tim didn't even flinch when the band snapped against his skin.

"Okay," Tim replied softly. "I know it's hard. I'm sorry."

Sawyer wiped at her face with her hands. "I'm not usually such a bitch."

"I know," Tim smiled, alluding to his time spent surveilling his newly discovered sibling.

Sawyer bit back a little laugh as she ripped open a sterile wipe. "I just… it doesn't make any sense to me," she said, sitting beside her brother. "How could they possibly think that this is a good idea. Sending you here, to Seattle, to Callie. What if you run into Arizona? Or what if Callie had figured it out. We're surgeons. We notice surgical scars."

"The scars would never have been enough," Tim replied as Sawyer wiped at his arm. "And I'd have been more careful about telling old stories around Callie. She won't find out," he added confidently.

"But I figured it out," Sawyer pressed on. "How could the military take a chance like that?"

"The military is a big operation," Tim sighed. "The people who approved Mitchell Baron for this trial only knew him as Mitchell Baron. They're just navy doctors, they don't have clearance for something as big as my identity."

"But someone had to know, didn't they?" Sawyer asked, readying the needle.

"There are so many channels that everything gets pushed through," Tim sighed.

"But _you_ knew," Sawyer replied, unwilling to accept such a passive answer. "You followed me for a week when you found out I existed, so obviously you've been keeping tabs on your family. You knew Arizona was married. You knew Callie was the surgeon in charge of this trial. Why wouldn't you have had some military surgeon handle your procedure? It could have been kept off the records. It wouldn't have needed to affect Callie's trial at all."

"I… I wasn't in a position to be making requests like that," Tim replied quickly. "To these doctors I was just Captain Baron… I couldn't…"

"You selfish prick," Sawyer snapped, seeing easily through his lie. "There is no way that if you had alerted the right people, that you couldn't have been kept away from Seattle. You wanted to see her. To see them. You selfish, selfish bastard."

"They would never have found out," Tim pleaded as Sawyer put down her syringe and stood up. "There was Callie's name on this trial. All I had to do was say yes… I was careful. They'll never know."

"I know!" Sawyer bellowed. "I know her brother is alive and I will never get to tell her. And you did this to me! You stupid selfish coward."

A clatter sounded from the hallway and both Timothy and Sawyer whipped around to look at the door. Sawyer's heel had pulled it almost closed, but it hadn't latched and was open about half an inch.

**XXXXXXXX**

Callie was humming with excitement as she made her way down the hall. The appointment with Dr. Wong had gone very well, everything seemed to be progressing nicely. Plus, there had been almost no traffic coming back to Seattle, so Callie was hopeful that she would be able to catch the end of Captain Baron's appointment. She'd been feeling a little guilty lately at how often she'd been passing of trial duties to Sawyer. She'd been leaning on her kind of heavily, and Sawyer seemed stressed. Callie was sure she wasn't helping matters much by adding onto Sawyer's workload.

Reaching for the door of the exam room they'd been assigned, Callie heard "_Sure… whatever Timothy"_.

Timothy? Callie paused. She must have the wrong room. Referring to the note in her file, she confirmed that she was definitely in the right place. Maybe Sawyer had finished quickly? But that had certainly sounded like Sawyer.

"_You really shouldn't call me that. If you get in the habit of using that name you're more likely to slip up in front of someone."_

That also sounded like Captain Baron. Callie paused, confused and content to stand outside the door and listen. To figure out what was going on.

"_I'll call you whatever I want, because your name is bubbling in the pit of my stomach every minute of every day. It's constantly on the tip of my tongue. And if I don't get to use it here, with you, it's just going to boil over some day. So I will call you Timothy or Tim or even Timmy if it suits me."_

Okay, no question, that was Sawyer and she was pissed. Callie contemplated going into the room. Sawyer was being both rude and incredibly unprofessional, and this was her trial. If Sawyer's stress level was making her a bitch towards patients, Callie would have to deal with that. But as she reached for the door again, she paused. It was so unlike Sawyer to ever be bitchy. And this Timothy business made no sense.

"_Okay. I know it's hard. I'm sorry."_

"_I'm not usually such a bitch."_

"_I know."_

That sounded like they had some kind of a relationship, Callie mused. It also sounded like Baron was accepting Sawyer's anger in a way that suggested that he had done something she had a right to be pissed about.

"_I just… it doesn't make any sense to me. How could they possibly think that this is a good idea. Sending you here, to Seattle, to Callie. What if you run into Arizona? Or what if Callie had figured it out. We're surgeons. We notice surgical scars."_

Callie froze. Now they were talking about her. And Arizona. What if she had figured out what? Why couldn't Baron see Arizona? She felt a dread boiling in the pit of her stomach and leaned closer to the door.

"_The scars would never have been enough. And I'd have been more careful about telling old stories around Callie. She won't find out."_

I won't figure out _what_, Callie thought, biting her lip.

"_But I figured it out. How could the military take a chance like that?"_

"_The military is a big operation. The people who approved Mitchell Baron for this trial only knew him as Mitchell Baron. They're just navy doctors, they don't have clearance for something as big as my identity."_

His identity? Callie felt panicky. Timothy is his identity then? So he's not actually Captain Baron? 

"_But you knew. You followed me for a week when you found out I existed, so obviously you've been keeping tabs on your family. You knew Arizona was married. You knew Callie was the surgeon in charge of this trial. Why wouldn't you have had some military surgeon handle your procedure? It could have been kept off the records. It wouldn't have needed to affect Callie's trial at all."_

"_I… I wasn't in a position to be making requests like that. To these doctors I was just Captain Baron… I couldn't…"_

"_You selfish prick. There is no way that if you had alerted the right people, that you couldn't have been kept away from Seattle. You wanted to see her. To see them. You selfish, selfish bastard."_

"_They would never have found out. There was Callie's name on this trial. All I had to do was say yes… I was careful. They'll never know."_

"_I know! I know her brother is alive and I will never get to tell her. And you did this to me! You stupid selfish coward."_

Holy. Fuck. _Timothy_ Timothy? Timothy _Robbins_? Her wife's dead brother. That was impossible. Callie stumbled backwards with shock, awkwardly backing into a large metal shelf and knocking over everything on the third row. She grabbed it for support to stop herself from falling.

The door to the exam room whipped open and Sawyer's face appeared. She only had to look at Callie once to know that Callie knew.

**So I have a paper due today, a paper due tomorrow and a midterm on Thursday. So, as much as I hate to say it, expect a little bit of a delay before the next installment. But until then, hit the blue button and leave me a review :)**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hey, so again, I apologize for the delay. I will continue to do my very best to keep these updates coming as quickly and as regularly as possible.**

_Holy. Fuck. _Timothy_ Timothy? Timothy _Robbins_? Her wife's dead brother. That was impossible. Callie stumbled backwards with shock, awkwardly backing into a large metal shelf and knocking over everything on the third row. She grabbed it for support to stop herself from falling._

_The door to the exam room whipped open and Sawyer's face appeared. She only had to look at Callie once to know that Callie knew._

It took Sawyer only a moment to shake off the shock of seeing her sister-in-law before her before her feet sprung into action. Lurching forward, Sawyer grabbed Callie by the elbow and pulled her into the exam room, slamming the door behind them. Callie backed up against the wall.

"Callie..." Sawyer started in what she hoped was a calming tone.

"Did she..." Tim asked, face pale.

"Hear everything?" Sawyer supplied. "I'm gonna go with yes."

"No," Tim breathed. "No, this is not happening. No, no, no - "

"Shut up," Callie cut him off, finding her voice at last. "Who are you?"

"I..." Tim started, looking at Sawyer and trying to gauge how much he should share based on how much Callie had heard.

Somehow reading his mind Callie snapped. "I heard everything. But I want to hear you say it."

"I'm Timothy Robbins," Tim sighed.

Callie considered this for a moment before shaking her head. "No. No, Timothy's dead."

"The marine corps faked my death," Tim replied.

"No," Callie argued again. "No. Why would they do that? Why - "

"He's like Jason Bourne," Sawyer supplied helpfully.

"I'm not like Jason Bourne," Tim argued. "I'm - "

"No. Shut up," Callie cut him off again. "You just - " she looked at Tim for a moment, thinking. "You stay here. You," she grabbed Sawyer's arm, "come with me."

"Oh-kay," Sawyer quipped, stumbling as Callie jerked her from the room.

Callie dragged Sawyer down the hall until she found herself outside of the same supply room Sawyer had taken refuge in after discovering Timothy's identity. Callie yanked open the door and unceremoniously shoved Sawyer inside before slamming the door behind him.

"Supply closet?" Sawyer mused. "You know, in this hospital, people are going to talk…"

"You're making jokes now?" Callie snapped.

"No. I'm sorry," Sawyer replied quickly staring at the floor. Truth be told, Sawyer felt like an immense weight had been lifted now that Callie knew the truth. The relief she felt was making her a little giddy. She bit her lip to stop any more inappropriate comments from sneaking out.

"That's Arizona's brother?" Callie asked, voice harsh.

"Yeah," Sawyer replied quietly. "Yeah, it is."

"And you knew this?" Callie demanded.

"I figured it," Sawyer supplied.

"How?" Callie asked shortly.

"The scars on his face told me he'd had plastic surgery. And when I noticed the scar on his shoulder he told me the scrambled egg story. The one Arizona told us about Tim's rotator cuff repair. And his eyes. When he takes out his contacts… They're the same as mine and…"

"Arizona's," Callie finished, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"I wanted to tell you," Sawyer pleaded. "I wanted to tell both of you, but he told me that I would be putting you in danger. That you would be considered a threat to national security."

"This is not real," Callie breathed.

"I know it seems crazy Cal, but - "

"No," Callie cut her off. "No, there is just no way this is real. The marines fake his death and then send him back to his family? Think about it Sawyer. It makes no sense."

"Callie, I think he - " Sawyer started, but Callie cut her off.

"Lots of people get plastic surgery. And he could have heard that scrambled egg story anywhere."

"Callie, his eyes," Sawyer repeated, fixated on the one clue that had solidified Tim's identity in her mind.

"Lots of people have blue eyes. You can even have surgery to lighten eye colour," Callie replied. "To change brown to blue."

"Why would he get that surgery and then wear brown contacts?" Sawyer challenged.

"I don't know!" Callie shouted, slamming her hand against the wall. Sawyer took a like step back.

"Why would he lie about something like this? And then why force me to keep it a secret? I know Tim being alive makes no sense, but someone pretending to be him? I think that makes even less sense. It would be the most elaborate prank ever."

"Why are you so invested in it being Tim?" Callie accused.

"What?" Sawyer asked, bewildered.

"You called him Jason Bourne," Callie continued. "You're… romanticizing the whole thing. Like it's some cool story."

"I have barely eaten or slept in weeks!" Sawyer cried. "I feel sick to my stomach about this. This is not cool or romantic. This is real life. This is happening and I wish to god it wasn't but… it's him Callie. He… knows _things_ about me."

"What things?" Callie asked.

"Just… stuff," Sawyer deflected. "After the Colonel added me to his military record he followed me for a week. To get to know me. That's why I thought he looked familiar. I saw him outside my apartment once."

"He followed you?" Callie asked, incredulously. "He could have learned things about Tim that way! Following god knows who else."

"Really?" Sawyer asked. "This is how you want to play this? You're going to stick your head in the sand and say he's a liar? Look Cal, maybe it's possible that it's a hoax, but there is a hell of a lot of evidence to suggest that it's the truth."

Callie was pinching her nose again, thinking. Finally she looked up. "Did you take the blood yet?"

"I – no. Not yet," Sawyer replied, startled by the sudden end to the argument.

"How many vials do you have?" Callie asked.

"Six," Sawyer replied. "Just like you said."

"Grab two more. And another needle kit," Callie ordered as she swept from the little room.

Sawyer hunted down the desired items and hurried to follow her sister-in-law.

Opening the door to Tim's exam room Callie was greeted with "You can't tell Arizona."

Sawyer, sprinting down the hall, slipped in behind Callie as she shut the door.

"Sit," Callie pointed to the chair Tim had vacated earlier, taking the one Sawyer had occupied for herself. She began the process of taking Tim's blood samples in silence, so Timothy pressed on.

"She can't know," Tim continued. "For one thing it'll devastate her, because after this repair I'll never see her again. She'll have to live her whole life wondering and worrying about me. Plus, if the government knew that you know, you'd all be in danger. They could consider you a threat to national security. You - "

"Stop talking," Callie cut him off harshly as she filled vials of blood. "Let's get one thing straight. I don't keep secrets from my wife. Especially not secrets like this. So if you think I'm going to lie to her you are sorely mistaken. But - " she continued as she filled the seventh vial, "I would also never tell her without being 100% sure." She finished with the last vial, removed the needle from Tim's arm and passed him a cotton ball to hold over the vein. "You, move. Sawyer, sit," Callie instructed, tearing open the new needle kit Sawyer had brought her.

"When I tell her, you're right," Callie continued, prepping Sawyer's arm to draw blood, "she will be devastated. But, if I tell her, and this all turns out to be some elaborate hoax, well, that's just about the cruelest thing I can imagine doing to my wife. So I will get proof, and then, if it is true, I will be able to lay this all out for Arizona so that there is no doubt."

She finished taking Sawyer's blood and placed the vial in the pocket of her lab coat along with the extra sample she had taken from Tim.

Realizing what Callie intended to do with the blood samples, Tim lunged forward, attempting to grab them from her pocket. "No. You can't do this. You cannot tell her."

Callie pushed him back. "I will do whatever I want. You listen to me. If you aren't Tim, then this is just about the most unbelievably cruel thing I can imagine someone doing. And if you are Tim… well this is still cruel. And you are an idiot. So get out." She pointed to the door. "I'll have your DNA test done in a few days and then I'll call you with my decision as to whether or not you can stay on this trial."

Tim paled at this. "But - " he started.

"No," Callie replied flatly, pointing again at the door. "Until I have that test. Get. Out."

Accepting defeat, Tim began to gather his things in silence when a knock sounded at the door.

**XXXXXXXX**

Arizona was rolling down the hallway feeling an odd combination of nervous excitement. According to Dr. Wong, everything looked fantastic and, assuming the blood work came back clean, she and Callie would be going back to Olympia tomorrow to make their baby. Equal parts thrilled and terrified at the thought, Arizona was mindlessly wandering the halls, killing time before her first surgery of the day. Yes, she should be charting, or some other mindless administrative duty that came with being the head of her department, but her mind was far to preoccupied with thoughts of tomorrow for her to be even remotely productive.

She'd been wandering for fifteen minutes before she realized she was standing outside of the daycare. She smiled to herself as she realized that, subconsciously, she'd sought out one of the two people who could calm her down right now. Pushing open the door, Arizona greeted Miss Amy with a big grin.

"Hey, Dr. Robbins, in for a visit?"

"Just a quick one," Arizona smiled, scanning the room for her daughter before a torpedo connected with her knees. "Omph," Arizona exhaled dramatically.

"Momma!" Sofia beamed as she extended her arms to be picked up.

"Hello big girl!" Arizona grinned, pressing a kiss to her little cheek. "Did you have fun with Auntie Sawyer this morning?"

Sofia nodded enthusiastically and Amy gave a little laugh.

"Oh I think she must have," the young woman joked. "She really didn't want Dr. Logan to leave."

"Really?" Arizona asked, feeling a little guilty. "How long did she keep her here?"

"About half an hour," Amy replied.

"Ooh. Were you trouble for Auntie Sawyer?" Arizona asked.

"No," Sofia replied innocently, shaking her head as squirmed to be put down. Arizona complied and Sofia quickly grabbed her hand and led her over to the corner where she had been colouring. Excitedly showing her Momma what she had been working on, Sofia pointed and babbled as Arizona nodded along enthusiastically. Handing her mother a crayon, Arizona began to colour when her phone went off.

"Robbins," she answered.

"It's me," Alex greeted.

"You're calling me?" Arizona asked confused. "I know we have surgery in twenty minutes Karev, I'll be there," she stated playfully.

"No, I just got Aiden's labs back. His white count is elevated. He has an infection."

"Damn," Arizona breathed, setting down her crayon.

"I started him on antibiotics so hopefully it's nothing serious and it clears right up. But we won't be able to go in - "

"For at least 24 hours," Arizona agreed.

"I just called so you didn't rush back here for a surgery we aren't gonna do," Alex supplied.

"Yeah, I appreciate it," Arizona nodded into the phone.

"No problem, boss," Alex replied, and Arizona could hear his smile as they ended the call.

"Well Sofia," Arizona smiled, turning her attention back to her daughter. Looks like Momma is suddenly available for lunch! What do you say? Do we have a date?"

Going off of her mother's leading tone Sofia nodded happily and extended her arms to once more be picked up.

Hoisting Sofia onto her hip Arizona added, "We should see if we can find Mami and Auntie Sawyer. They had trial stuff today so they're probably together. Maybe we can buy Auntie Sawyer a thank you lunch for the lovely morning we gave her."

"Auntie Sawyer!" Sofia agreed happily as she and Arizona made their way down the hall, stopping to get the exam room number from the nurses' station. Kicking out the wheels on her shoes, Arizona rolled down the empty hallway, much to Sofia's delight. Coming to a stop outside of the correct room, Arizona pressed a kiss to Sofia's temple. "Don't tell Mami," she whispered. "She's not too big on you and I rolling around together," she added as she rapped on the door before slowly pushing it open.

**And I think that is as good a place as any to end this chapter.**

**Thoughts?**

**Leave me a review below!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Massive apologies for the delay with this one guys. I caught a very potent stomach flu and really only perked back up a day or two ago. Seriously. One of my friends did one of those juice cleanses the last few days and lost four pounds. I offered to breathe on her so she could catch my flu because I lost nine pounds this week. But, I'm definitely feeling better and I don't have any major assignments coming up in the next few days so you can expect the next chapter to arrive in a more timely manner. Enjoy!**

The sight of a blonde head poking into the room made Callie literally freeze in her tracks. Usually the sight of Arizona and Sofia put an instant smile on her face, but right now, all she was feeling was pure dread.

"Hey, my surgery got cancelled so we thought we'd come treat the two of you to – oh," Arizona faltered when her eyes fell on the man in the corner of the room, gathering his things. "Oh, god, I'm so sorry!" Arizona gushed, mortified. "I assumed you were done. But you're still in the exam room. So clearly… I'm so sorry…"

Both Callie and Sawyer stood rooted to the spot, staring with horror as Arizona rambled. So it was Tim who found his voice first.

"Not a problem at all ma'am, we're all done here," he smiled.

Hearing Tim speak to Arizona roused Callie from her daze and she stepped protectively in front of her wife and child. "Yes, Captain Baron was just leaving," she added pointedly.

Arizona gave Callie a little look for her less than friendly bedside manner, but said nothing.

"Er… yes, I was" Tim covered. "Nice to meet you," he added.

Sawyer saw Tim's hand twitch and she realized he was about to offer it for a handshake. Swiftly stepping forward she said, "Your umbrella," placing the item in his rising hand with just a little more force than necessary and making her message very clear: no touching.

"Thanks" Tim replied, a little resentfully as he lowered his arm and made his way from the room.

"We'll be in touch in a few days," Callie called meaningfully after Tim's retreating form as he made his way down the hall.

Once he had vanished around the corner Arizona gave both her wife and sister confused looks. "Do we hate him?" she asked.

"What? No," Callie replied quickly.

"You two sounded like you don't like him," Arizona continued. "You weren't very friendly."

"I thought that was perfectly friendly," Sawyer shrugged.

Arizona shot her a look.

"Just keeping things professional, babe," Callie added. "So what are you doing out of daycare Miss Sofia?" Callie asked, smoothly transitioning into a new subject. Her daughter grinned at finally having her Mami's attention.

"Someone had a bit too much fun at Auntie Sawyer's this morning," Arizona supplied.

"And it wasn't Auntie Sawyer!" Sawyer added jokingly, giving a goofy smile to her niece.

"Oh no, really?" Callie asked. "Was she trouble?"

"No," Sawyer waved off. "She was fine."

"It's just that daycare's so boring after a morning with Auntie Sawyer," Arizona supplied.

"We had some trouble with the drop off," Sawyer admitted. "That's why I was late to meet with Captain Baron," she added with a meaningful glance at Callie.

"I see," Callie nodded. "Well maybe we should take Auntie Sawyer out for a lovely cafeteria dining experience to make up for it."

"That's what we were thinking!" Arizona exclaimed with mock excitement, bouncing Sofia on her hip and eliciting a giggle. "And we thought we'd invite Mami too 'cause we're both rather fond of you."

"Gee, thanks," Callie replied with a smile and an eye roll. "Why don't you two go grab us a table and we'll meet you there. We've gotta finish up in here and drop off the blood samples."

Usually that was something that an intern would do, but Arizona understood Callie wanting to handle every step of her trial herself, so she nodded. "Okay, sounds good," she smiled, taking her leave of the room and waiting until she'd rounded the corner and was out of Callie's sight to kick out her wheels and glide down the hall.

"So, you're gonna wait to tell her about Tim until after the blood samples come back?" Sawyer asked, glancing at the pocket of Callie's lab coat.

"That isn't Tim," Callie replied, shaking her head as she gathered their things.

"Callie, I know you think that's a possibility but - "

"Arizona barely even glanced at him," Callie cut Sawyer off.

"She hardly glances at anyone when you and Sofia are around," Sawyer pointed out.

Callie ignored her comment. "No. If that was really her brother… Arizona would have known."

"I think that's a little naïve…" Sawyer hedged, hesitantly. "He's been dead almost ten years. It's not like she's looking for him. And he looks almost nothing like what he used to."

"I'm not saying she would have instantly known that he was her brother," Callie clarified. "I'm just saying that there would have been… something. She would have paused and noticed him for a moment. Felt some kind of connection to him, but there was nothing. He's not her brother."

"Okay, but you're still gonna run the blood test right?" Sawyer asked nervously.

"Of course I am," Callie brushed off. "I want to be sure. I need to be sure. But before, I was worried. Now I'm not."

"Well I'm glad _you're_ not," Sawyer replied pointedly. "Look, if it's not bothering you, I'll go drop the blood work off. You can go have lunch with your girls."

"Oh no," Callie smiled, throwing an arm over Sawyer's shoulders. "We've gotta buy you a crappy sandwich for putting up with some of those terrible twos. We can drop the blood work off on the way."

Sawyer finally smiled. "She is not terrible…"

**XXXXXXXX**

After dropping off the blood work Callie and Sawyer made their way to the cafeteria. They spotted Arizona and Sofia at a table and both gave a little wave as they went to grab some food. Sawyer chose to forgo the crappy sandwich in favor of some kind of couscous salad and a ginger ale while Callie opted for the pasta. Callie smiled as she paid for their meals. In many ways, Arizona and Sawyer were so very different, but every once in a while, something would pop up that would remind Callie that two of them were sisters. Like their shared affinity for straws.

As Callie and Sawyer made their way to the table Sawyer raised her tray up to her chest so that she could reach the straw with her mouth while balancing the cup precariously on the tray, taking a big slurp of ginger ale. Taking the seat across the table, Sawyer took another exaggerated swallow, making Sofia giggle and clap her hands.

Arizona rolled her eyes. "You're such a dork," she laughed.

"I like dorky," Callie smiled, dropping into the seat next to her wife.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Arizona asked with mock indignation.

"I think she's implying that you're a bit of a dork yourself, Zoey," Sawyer smirked.

Arizona smiled at the nickname. Several months ago, Callie and Arizona had collaborated on an incredibly risky but highly successful surgery. After a private celebration in their preferred on-call room, they'd met up with several friends at Joe's to continue the festivities. Sawyer had gotten so drunk, and her speech had become so slurred that she couldn't even manage to pronounce her sister's name, claiming that _Arizona_ was far too much of a mouthful and that she was in desperate need of a nickname. In her drunken state she had rechristened Arizona "Zoey" and, in the light of sobriety found that she still liked the nickname and continued to use it on occasion. Arizona usually hated nicknames but for whatever reason, the occasional "Zo" or "Zoey" from Sawyer didn't bother her. In fact she kind of liked it.

"I'm not a dork," Arizona countered ruefully. "I'm cool. I have it on good authority."

"And whose authority is that?" Callie laughed.

"My entire ward full of kids," Arizona replied smoothly. "I beat Karev at Mario Kart yesterday. I am reigning supreme right now."

Sawyer grinned. "It's stories like that that make me think that I should go into PEDS."

Arizona smiled at this too. She would love nothing more than for Sawyer to declare PEDS as her specialty, and not just because she was her sister. For on the few cases that Sawyer had worked with Arizona, she'd shown that she possessed a rare talent – that she was equally good at dealing with kids _and_ parents. Her current protégé, Alex Karev, as much as she loved him, had always been lacking when it came to dealing with parents and it would be great if her next student wasn't so inclined. But Arizona was far from the only doctor who would like Sawyer to choose her specialty. Callie had been hoping for a protégé for years, and although she'd had many students, there had been none who'd been anything special. Arizona knew that deep down, Callie was hoping that their trial work might push Sawyer into orthopedics. Although Sawyer was far from declaring anything as her specialty. She'd ruled out a few things she hadn't enjoyed – cardio, urology, and ophthalmology to name a few, but her (rather long) short list still included PEDS, ortho, neuro, general, trauma and (though she'd sworn Arizona to secrecy and would never admit it to Mark) plastics.

"Mario Kart makes you not a dork?" Callie laughed. "I think we may need to have a chat about the definition of the word, babe."

"I'm not a dork," Arizona pouted.

Callie leaned in and placed a quick kiss on her wife's protruding bottom lip. "I said I like dorky," she grinned.

Arizona continued to frown.

"Sofia, tell your Momma not to pout," Callie laughed.

"Momma, no pout," Sofia said seriously, looking up from where she'd been earnestly engaged with sculpting her mashed potatoes.

"Okay, well if Sofia says so," Arizona giggled.

"Mmm, yes, the princess has spoken," Callie joked.

"Oh, check out what we learned this morning!" Sawyer gushed as Callie jogged her memory. "Hey, Sofia, _The princess is here_…"

"Ciara!" Sofia chorused, banging her spoon on the table.

"Thatta girl!" Sawyer exclaimed, offering her hand for Sofia's tiny high five.

"What?" Arizona asked, completely confused.

"It's a pop song," Sawyer offered, looking up from her niece with a grin. "1, 2 Step. We were dancing this morning."

"The things you're teaching our daughter," Arizona laughed with a shake of her head.

"Cool Aunt, right here," Sawyer quipped, pointing at herself.

"You know she's two, right?" Callie asked.

"Never too young to start," Sawyer defended.

At that, Arizona grinned and Callie groaned.

"What?" Sawyer asked.

"Dance lessons," Arizona offered.

"She's two. She does not need dance lessons," Callie countered.

"I found a dance studio that has a toddlers classes though," Arizona tried. "You know she'd love it."

"She does not need classes," Callie sighed into what Sawyer interpreted as a repeated disagreement. "She can dance in the living room."

"But parents get to dance too!" Arizona tried. "Don't you think it would be fun? Sawyer, tell her it would be fun."

"Not going there," Sawyer said with a shake of her head, far too wise to get in-between one of Callie and Arizona's arguments, even one as tame as this.

"I am not paying money to stand in a big group with a bunch of other parents and toddlers to be told to dance it out drunken Grey and Yang style," Callie said pointedly. "They're not lessons. They don't teach them steps. We do exactly the same thing with her all the time."

Fully engaged in their family bubble, and facing away from the doorway, Callie and Arizona didn't notice the figure standing just outside the entrance to the cafeteria. But Sawyer did. Quickly setting down her fork Sawyer said, "I'll be right back," as she made a beeline for the big double doors.

Grabbing Timothy by his jacket and pushing him away from the cafeteria entrance, she angrily backed him into the wall.

"What are you doing?" she hissed.

"Just… watching," Tim shrugged, glancing back at the cafeteria longingly.

"Well stop," Sawyer ordered. "Seriously. Do you know how stupid and risky this is?"

"She didn't recognize me," Tim replied. "I knew she wouldn't but… I saw her today. Spoke to her, and she had no idea. And she looks so… happy. Motherhood suits her. Seeing her with her little girl was pretty beautiful and - "

"No," Sawyer snapped. "Seriously. No. You don't get to do that. Callie will tell Arizona if the blood work comes back positive, but even if it does, we fix your leg and you go away. You don't get to moon over her in the interim."

"Callie doesn't have to tell her," Tim countered. "She didn't know, and she's better off not knowing. She didn't suspect anything. I could talk to her again and - "

"No!" Sawyer interrupted, more forcefully this time. "No. You do not get to talk to her. You gave up that right. I'm serious Tim, you stay the hell away from her."

"Alright. Fine," Tim replied shortly, raising his hands in surrender. "I'll stay away from her. I promise." He brushed passed Sawyer and left without another word. As Sawyer watched him leave, she couldn't help but feel worried that that was a promise he wouldn't be keeping.

**Hey. Hope you enjoyed that. I felt like we needed to take a little time out to just enjoy our favourite couple for a bit. Especially given how depressing it is watching them on Grey's lately.**

**Leave me a review with your thoughts, predictions, opinions. You know the drill.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Okay, so I should preface this by saying that the Internet is a sometimes helpful, sometimes very frustrating place. I got some very varied answers as to how long it would take a lab tech in a private hospital to run a DNA test. So if someone is an expert in this, and I've gotten it wrong, I apologize. Five days was one of my potential answers and five days fit best with my story, so I went with five days. Yes, I'm a bit of an opportunist.**

It had been a busy four days. While Sawyer may have been waiting earnestly for the results of the DNA test Callie had ordered, that test and the results had been the furthest thing from Callie's mind. Because that night, Dr. Wong had called and confirmed that everything was in order and that they could proceed with the TVOR procedure for harvesting Arizona's eggs the next day.

And so, with Sofia dropped off at Daddy's, they'd made the drive back to Olympia for the procedure. While the drive to Arizona's preferred fertility specialist might be a bit of a nuisance, Callie couldn't deny the added bonus of the fact that a different city meant a privacy and secrecy that they likely would never have found in Seattle. The medical community was simply too small.

And yes, it was a relatively simple procedure, especially for two experienced surgeons, but that didn't mean that they both weren't nervous. Arizona had, true to form, stopped eating twelve hours prior to the surgery rather than the six hours Dr. Wong had specified – _just to be sure_, she'd supplied as she refused the dinner Callie had tried to offer her. And Callie had held tight to Arizona's hand throughout the entire procedure despite the sedation her wife had been placed under, and held fast to that hand until Arizona had groggily woken up.

Their drive home from Dr. Wong's office had been a quiet one, not just because Arizona was still a little out of sorts from the procedure, but because both women's thoughts were back in Olympia with a little petri dish the was holding their dream.

The call from Dr. Wong two days later letting them know that fertilization had been successful and that Callie could come in for implantation meant that Sofia got another day with Auntie Sawyer and the couple undertook the drive back to Olympia one more time like it was nothing. Because really, a 90-minute drive was nothing when the trade off was their baby.

Arizona held just as fast to Callie's hand during her procedure as Callie had during hers. The difference being though, that Callie was wide-awake. When Dr. Wong had finished and left the room, Arizona still clung to her wife's hand. Callie had to remain lying down for a few hours, and Arizona had no intention of going anywhere.

Pressing a kiss to Callie's temple, Arizona whispered, "How was that?"

"Can't say it was my favourite thing," Callie shrugged. "But not bad. And it'll be totally worth it."

Arizona sighed. "You know the odds say that we won't get pregnant on our first attempt."

Callie blinked at her. "I know that," she replied softly.

"I'm not trying to be negative," Arizona continued quickly. "I want this to work so so badly."

Callie gave her hand a squeeze. "I know you do," she smiled.

"I just don't want you to get your heart broken if in two weeks you pee on a stick and it comes back negative," Arizona whispered.

"_My_ heart?" Callie asked.

Arizona sighed and rested her forehead against Callie's.

"Hey," Callie called gently, maneuvering to place a quick kiss on Arizona's cheek. "If it doesn't work, we're both going to be sad. I think that's pretty much a foregone conclusion. But we'll be okay. We have each other. We have Sofia. We'll always be okay."

Arizona smiled with tears in her eyes. "And we can try again," she added. "I will do this as many times as you want me to, Calliope."

It was Callie's turn for watery eyes. "Really?" she asked in a quiet voice. "Because I know it's a lot. And it's expensive - "

Arizona cut Callie off with a quick kiss. "You know I don't care about that," she smiled. "I will go through this with you as many times as we have to. And if we wrack up a massive debt in bringing him into the world, we can just use it against her someday. _Really kiddo, we'd love to get you a car for your sixteenth birthday, but your conception was so expensive that we really can't afford it_."

Callie snorted. "I love you, you dork."

**XXXXXXXX**

Yes, it had been a busy four days, full of excitement and nerves. And all that was really left to do now was to wait. Callie and Arizona were both back at work, which was a good thing, because it considerably lessened their amount of obsessing over whether or not Callie was pregnant. Busy and distracted was how both women planned on staying over the next two weeks.

But as she stood at the nurses' station, rubbing away the headache in her temples, Arizona realized that she might have thrown herself into her work with a bit too much gusto. Because if her watch was right (and it always was, set with military precision) she'd had nothing but coffee for over 20 hours now, and given how many surgeries she'd performed and the fact that she'd had (relatively minor) surgery herself just a few days ago, that really wasn't smart. Plus, Callie would kill her if she found out.

"Are you okay?"

Arizona turned at the sound of the voice behind her coming face to face with Alex Karev. Wow. She must really look awful if even Alex has noticed.

"Yeah, fine," Arizona replied, forcing a smile.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but you don't look fine. You look like crap," Alex shrugged.

Arizona shot him a look.

"Hey, no offense," Alex added quickly. "Just, do you need a coffee or something?"

Arizona shook her head. "No. I just need to find five minutes so that I can eat something." She dropped her pen and took an unsteady step away from the counter she'd been leaning on, closing her eyes at the head rush that hit her.

"You want a muffin? A bagel?" Alex asked quickly. "I'll go get it for you."

Arizona smiled to herself a little. That was work for an intern. But Alex would do it himself because (as Callie often pointed out and Arizona continuously denied) Alex was somewhat protective of his mentor.

"A bagel would be good," Arizona conceded.

"Kay, you want one of those disgusting caramel coffee things you drink too?" Alex added.

Arizona smiled. "Yes please."

"Be right back," Alex promised, taking off down the hallway.

Arizona sighed and let her head drop against the counter of the nurses station. She allowed her eyes to close, just for a moment before she heard,

"Um, are you alright?"

God, she must really look like hell.

Forcing her eyes open and lifting her head, Arizona's hands gripped the counter as a wave of dizziness came at her again. Yeah, she really didn't feel well. Focusing on the man before her, it took Arizona a second to place him.

"Captain Baron, right?" she asked, forcing a smile as she greeted her wife's trail patient.

"That's right," the man before her replied. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name the other day."

"Dr. Arizona Robbins," Arizona offered, extending her hand for a handshake.

"Dr. Robbins," Baron smiled. "Nice to meet you."

"Are you here for another appointment with Dr. Torres?" Arizona asked. She didn't remember Callie mentioning that she had any trial work scheduled today, but they'd barely talked about anything other than babies for the past four days, so it was possible it had slipped her mind.

"I think she'll be there," Baron answered. "I'm supposed to go to the physiotherapy gym so that they can assess the current function in my knee. So that they have something to compare it against after my operation. I think I'm a little turned around though."

"Mmm, yeah, that can be a tough one to find," Arizona supplied. "You've actually most likely passed it already. If you just go down this hall here - " she pushed herself off from the counter she had been leaning on and took a step in the direction she had indicated. This time, the dizziness came accompanied with a blackness that swallowed her up so quickly she didn't realize what was happening until she was already fainting.

Tim stepped forward and caught her. "AJ, AJ," he called, patting her face. "AJ…"

**XXXXXXXX**

Callie looked up when a knock sounded at her office door. "Yeah, come in," she called, dropping her gaze back down to the paperwork in front of her.

"Hey, Cal," Sawyer greeted, quietly shutting the door behind her. Dropping into one of the seats across the desk she added, "The blood work is back."

"What blood work?" Callie asked, distractedly shifting papers around her desk, hunting for a form her current file seemed to be missing.

"What blood work?" Sawyer repeated. "Tim's blood work. Or Baron's blood work. Or whatever we're calling him."

"That's back already?" Callie asked, finding the form and placing it in the file.

"It's been five days," Sawyer answered indignantly. "Callie," she added strongly, placing a hand over the file Callie was still working on. "You need to look at it."

Sawyer's tone made Callie finally devote her full attention to her sister-in-law, as she handed Callie the folder she had carried in with her. Callie flipped it open. There, very clearly displayed, one above the other, were the DNA profiles from both Sawyer and Tim. And it was Tim. Even if Callie hadn't been able to interpret what the shared alleles meant, typed clearly below the profiles was the sentence _Subjects are half siblings_.

"Fuck," Callie breathed, dropping the folder on the desk in front of her. "It's actually… He's actually…"

"Yeah," Sawyer supplied.

"Oh my god, how am I going to tell her," Callie sighed, wiping at her face. She felt like she was going to cry. This was going to hurt Arizona so much.

"The rest of his blood work was all clear," Sawyer added. "The blood work for the trial."

"I really don't care about the trial right now," Callie snapped.

"Right. Sorry," Sawyer offered quickly, her gaze dropping to the desk. "It's just," she continued in a small voice, "he's here today. Right now actually. For the mobility tests."

Callie wiped at her face again. She'd forgotten about that.

"So if you wanted to talk to him, you could. Or I can handle the tests by myself," she added quickly. "If you want to go talk to Arizona."

"I want to go talk to Arizona," Callie replied without thinking.

"Okay," Sawyer nodded, when another knock sounded at the office door.

"What," Callie snapped.

Meredith Grey entered the room, looking a little taken aback at her less than friendly greeting. "Hey, Callie, don't freak out," she started hesitantly, "but Arizona passed out - "

"She _what_?" Callie cried. "Where is she?"

"In PEDS, in Exam one," Meredith answered quickly.

"Why didn't anyone page me!?" Callie cried, pushing past Meredith as she ran from the room.

"We didn't want you to freak out!" Meredith called after her. "Is she okay?" Meredith added, turning her attention to Sawyer.

"Really not a good time," Sawyer sighed, hurrying after Callie.

**XXXXXXXX**

As Callie burst into the exam room on the PEDS floor Arizona was groggily coming to, surrounded by Derek Shepherd, Alex Karev and, Callie heart stopped in her throat, her brother.

Derek stepped in front of Callie. "I checked her out," he told her calmly. "She didn't hit her head, and Karev said she hasn't eaten, so there's nothing to worry about. Just stress and low blood sugar." He gave Callie a smile. "I can run some tests if you like, but I really think everything is just fine."

Callie nodded her thanks as Derek patted her arm and made his way from the room.

Callie quickly made her way to where Arizona was lying on the exam table. "Hey," she greeted gently, pushing Arizona's bangs away from her eyes. "How're you feeling? You scared the crap out of me."

But Arizona was looking past her wife. "Where?" she asked. "Where is he?"

"Who?" Callie asked gently.

"Your trial patient. The guy who caught me," Arizona clarified. Callie felt her chest constrict. "Where is he?"

"Um, I'm right here," Tim announced as Sawyer stepped into the room.

And as she saw the way Arizona looked at Tim, Sawyer knew that she knew. That Arizona, who had grown up with that face, who had loved and mourned that face, was seeing past the plastic surgery in a way that no one else could, to the Timothy underneath.

"Out," Sawyer said quickly, grabbing the sleeve of Alex's lab coat and tugging him towards the door.

"What?" Alex asked.

"Seriously, get out," Sawyer pleaded, a slight edge of panic in her voice.

"Um… okay?" Alex complied as Sawyer whipped the door shut behind him.

"You called me AJ," Arizona said quietly.

"No I didn't" Tim denied.

"Yes you did," Arizona stated plainly. She bit her lip and stared at him a moment longer. "Tim?" she breathed.

**This actually took all day to write. Because I really wanted to get this chapter right. So I hope you enjoyed. Do leave a review :)**


	13. Chapter 13

"_You called me AJ," Arizona said quietly._

"_No I didn't" Tim denied._

"_Yes you did," Arizona stated plainly. She bit her lip and stared at him a moment longer. "Tim?" she breathed._

"I don't know what - " Tim started, but Callie cut him off.

"You called her AJ?" She asked, clearly struggling to keep her anger at bay. "You made her faint?"

"No! I didn't!" Tim protested quickly. "She just fainted. I caught her."

"I told you to stay away from her," Sawyer stated clearly. "How stupid and reckless are you?"

"Stop," Arizona said, pushing herself into a seated position. "Is that…" she rephrased, "That's my brother?"

"Yes," Callie said gently, placing a hand on Arizona's shoulder.

"But… no, Tim's dead," she countered.

"The Marine Corps faked his death," Callie explained softly.

"I… you're alive?" Arizona asked, looking past her wife and to her brother's face.

"Arizona," he whispered. "I never wanted… never wanted to hurt you, but - "

"Get out," Arizona cut him off sharply.

"Ari - "

"She said get out," Sawyer ordered firmly, opening the door and (almost) slamming it as soon as he was outside.

Arizona closed her eyes to fight back the tears. "You knew?" she asked. "That he was my brother. That Tim was alive. You both knew?"

"Arizona, no, not like that," Callie said quickly.

"Not like what?" Arizona asked, fighting to keep from shouting. "You knew. Both of you."

"Arizona, please - " Callie started, but Arizona cut her off.

"Sawyer?" she demanded. "You knew?"

Sawyer bit her lip. "Sort of, but Arizona - "

"Get out," Arizona ordered.

"Arizona," Sawyer tried.

"Go away," Arizona reiterated.

"Babe," Callie ventured.

"Both of you. Go!" Arizona shouted.

Sawyer turned and quietly left the room. Callie stayed put.

"I said go," Arizona repeated once Sawyer had closed the door.

"No. Arizona, you need to listen to me," Callie stated firmly.

"No, Callie, what I need to do is…" she let out a breath. "Process. I just need a minute to…" She looked Callie in the eye. "Would you please just go? I need some space. I can't even look at you right now."

"I would never keep something like this from you, Arizona," Callie pressed.

"But you knew," Arizona repeated.

"Not the way you think I did," Callie tried.

"Please go, Callie," Arizona said quietly, finally losing the battle with her tears. "We can talk later but right now I just need you to leave me alone."

"I love you," Callie swore. Arizona's only response was to look back at her pleadingly. Callie sighed. "Okay. I'll give you some space. But would you promise me something?"

"What?" Arizona huffed.

"Eat," Callie replied flatly, retrieving the bagel and now lukewarm coffee Alex had left by the door. "I don't want you passing out again."

Arizona extended her hand to receive the food without looking at her wife. Callie handed it to her and quietly left the room.

**XXXXXXXX**

When Sawyer left the exam room she almost screamed with frustration. Tim was standing outside the door.

"I would go if I were you," Sawyer spat.

"I - " Tim started, but Sawyer cut him off.

"No seriously," she said. "I think Callie might kill you if she finds you here. And I'd totally let her."

"I have those mobility tests," Tim stated, staring at the ground.

"Not today you don't," Sawyer replied flatly.

Tim looked at her earnestly. "There might be people watching the progress of this trial. If stuff starts looking funny, they might get suspicious. I wasn't kidding when I said that it could be dangerous if they know you know."

"Whatever, I'll reschedule it," Sawyer huffed. "I'll have someone call you. Now seriously. Get the hell out of my hospital."

Tim turned and left without another word.

Sawyer watched him leave before slumping back against the wall, feeling nothing short of hopeless. How the hell had this happened? She's kept Tim's secret to protect her family. Now, they could all potentially be in trouble, and Arizona was angry, and Sawyer felt like she might never trust her again.

Sighing, Sawyer pushed herself off of the wall. She might be scared and confused. But she did know one thing. She did not want to be standing there whenever Arizona emerged from the room.

**XXXXXXXX**

Once Callie had left her, Arizona dutifully picked at her bagel and sipped at her coffee. She should probably get out of this exam room. Somebody probably needed it. But Arizona felt like she'd earned the right to be a little selfish in that moment, and so she stayed put. Thinking.

How many times had she dreamed of seeing Tim again? How often had she envisioned what it would be like to have just one more moment with her big brother? But in absolutely every scenario she had ever imagined, none had played out even remotely like the reality.

In her dreams their reunions had been filled with tears of joy, with hugs and laughter, and with an absolutely overwhelming sense of happiness. None of her dreams had contained the categorically crushing desolation she'd felt. And she'd definitely never told him to go away in her fantasies.

But the absolute shock of the fact that her brother could willingly desert her, desert their family like that, hurt in a way Arizona had never imagined. To think that they had all mourned his loss, mourned him being taken from them, when in reality, he'd simply left them.

Finished with her bagel, Arizona crumpled the bag Alex had carried it in, and tossed it roughly towards the trashcan. It missed. Arizona rose from the exam table, and kicked the stupid can with all of her might, watching as it bounced against the wall and teetered over. She righted it, grabbed her missed projectile and dropped it into the can before fleeing the room.

As she marched down the hall towards her office, people stayed out of her way. Maybe because news of her fainting had spread, or perhaps because the anger she was feeling was floating off of her in waves.

Slamming her office door behind her, Arizona paced the length of the room. Maybe she'd made a mistake in sending Callie away. Because before, all she'd felt was a completely devastating grief at the lies of her brother, her sister and her wife. But now, now she wasn't feeling so much sad as she was feeling incredibly pissed off. And she was feeling the need to yell. And to yell _at_ someone. And it wasn't like she could just vent her frustrations to a friend. She may not understand exactly what was going on, but the Marine Corps faking someone's death didn't seem like light business. The whole thing was so incredibly secretive that it rather necessitated the need for her to yell _at_ one of the subjects of her anger.

And so, only moments after entering the office in the first place, Arizona yanked open the door, and went off in search of someone to yell at.

"Have you seen Dr. Logan?" she barked at the first nurse she came across.

"Headed that way a little while ago," the nurse replied, pointing behind her and eyeing Arizona warily.

Without another word, Arizona brushed past her. If she took the time to consider it later, Arizona would realize that she was searching out Sawyer and not her wife, because even in her anger, she knew that Callie was safe. Callie was the one person who would always love her, who would never leave, desert or abandon her. And so it was completely _safe_ to stay mad at Callie. Callie had promised her that there was an explanation, that she would never keep something like this from her, and deep down, Arizona believed her. Deep down she knew that when she found Callie to talk, things would make just a little bit more sense. But right now, she really just wanted to be angry. And to yell. And for that, she needed Sawyer.

"Did Dr. Logan come by here?" she asked a passing intern.

Pointing, he replied, "She went into the on-call room, I think."

Arizona nodded. That was right. Sawyer liked to sleep in PEDS. How she could sleep at a time like this was beyond her though.

Grabbing the handle, Arizona found it unlocked, and roughly pushed open the door. "Sawyer, we need to talk," she announced grandly to the room.

But the head that popped up from the bed wasn't Sawyer's. Or more precisely, wasn't _just_ Sawyer's.

The head on top belonged to Alex Karev, the one beneath belonged to Sawyer. Their shoes, lab coats and scrub tops lay in a haphazard pile by the bed and both wore matching expressions of surprise, followed by horror.

The room stood still for a moment as Arizona stared at the half naked couple on the bed before her, then, without a word, Arizona turned on her heel, and slammed the door behind her.

**XXXXXXXX**

_Leaving the exam room where Callie and Arizona were still talking, Sawyer wandered aimlessly down the hall until a familiar hand reached out and pulled her into their on-call room._

"_What the hell was that about?" Alex asked, slightly annoyed but mostly concerned._

"_Nothing," Sawyer sighed._

"_It's not nothing," Alex insisted. "Robbins fainted. And then she was looking at your trial patient like she was seeing a ghost."_

_Sawyer could have laughed at how accurate that actually was._

"_And you've been so out of it lately," Alex continued, running a warm hand down Sawyer's arm. "I know you're not okay."_

_Sawyer sighed again, and let her forehead rest against his shoulder. "I can't talk about it," she murmured._

"_Yes you can," Alex promised gently as his arms snaked around her. "You can talk to me."_

_Sawyer shook her head against his chest. "No, Alex, I can't. I can't talk about it. It's not… mine. It's not… I just can't." She looked up at him and he saw the pleading in her eyes._

"_Okay," he consented, kissing her._

_Sawyer blew out a puff of air and dropped her forehead back against his shoulder. Alex could feel her helplessness being replaced with frustration. "I can't talk about it. I'm not allowed to talk about it. Talking about it won't make me feel better," Sawyer stated. She gave him a look. "So let's do something that's _not talking_ that will make me feel better."_

_Alex smirked and kicked off his running shoes, pushing Sawyer's lab coat from her shoulders as he kissed her and backed her towards the bed._

**XXXXXXXX**

"Fuck," Alex breathed as the door slammed. His head dropped to Sawyer's shoulder.

Sawyer's hands covered her face. "Nooo," she moaned quietly. They had been so careful. For months, _months_, they had kept their relationship a secret in the most gossipy hospital on the face of the planet. And today, when she had literally believed that things couldn't get any worse, she had actually made them worse. Not only had they finally gotten caught, but they were caught by the one person they had both been most concerned with exposing the relationship to.

"That did not just happen," Sawyer breathed. "This is not happening."

"Happened," Alex stated bitterly, sitting up.

"Why today?" Sawyer whined, climbing off the bed and pulling on her shirt. "Why in God's name did that happen today? And why the hell didn't you lock the door?" she accused.

"Why didn't you lock the door?" Alex countered easily.

Sawyer picked his shirt up off of the floor and smacked him in the stomach with it. "I was upset."

"I was _trying_ to make you feel better," Alex replied. "Succeeding, really," he smirked.

"Shut up," Sawyer muttered, this time picking up Alex's lab coat and smacking him against the shoulder with it.

"Stop hitting me with my clothes," Alex whined, catching his lab coat and tugging it forwards, causing Sawyer to tumble onto the bed beside him. He put his hand on her knee. "Look, I'm sorry she found out that way," he said, "but I'm not sorry she found out."

Sawyer sighed and gave him a little smile.

"We should have told them weeks ago," Alex shrugged.

"I know," Sawyer nodded, leaning into him. "There's just been a lot going on. I didn't want to give them one more thing to freak out about."

"One more thing that you still can't tell me about?" Alex confirmed.

Sawyer nodded.

"Well if we can't talk, and we can't have sex, I'm not sure what I'm going to do with you," Alex joked, pulling on his shoes.

"You could feed me," Sawyer smiled back.

"Ah, well as long as there's a plan," Alex grinned.

"Lexie's on call tonight," Sawyer replied. "So she'll stay at Mark's 'cause it's closer. What do you want? Not pizza," she added as an afterthought.

"Not Greek," Alex countered, knowing his girlfriend's preference.

"Chinese it is," Sawyer smiled.

"I'm done at six," Alex supplied.

"Same," Sawyer smiled.

"I'll walk you home," Alex promised, and with a quick kiss, he left the room.

As the door swung shut, Sawyer flopped back against the bed. The day was far from over, and it could probably manage to get a hell of a lot shittier, but at least she had something to look forward to now, a little light at the end of the tunnel.

**You guys know me. I like to have all the balls in the air at once :)**

**You know what to do! Let me hear it.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Hey-o. So, I got a great response to the last chapter. A few of you had already guessed that Sawyer was with Alex, so kudos to you guys. Those of you who were taken by surprise, I got a mixed bag of happy and not so happy with the pairing. But I'll be honest in telling you that after Callie and Arizona, Alex is my next favourite character on Grey's. So if you're not a fan… well, hopefully you will be when I'm done writing about him.**

Arizona was fuming. Angry didn't even begin to cover it. She was having the _worst_ day. Literally. People said that all the time but they rarely meant it. But yeah, today was going to rank in her top ten. No question.

Somewhere, deep down, she was aware of the fact that what she was most upset about was this situation with Timothy. But that was just so _huge_ that her brain was having trouble processing it. So instead, her brain was fixated on the image of her little sister, lying half naked, underneath her protégé. Her little sister, who had lied to her about seeing anyone, was sleeping with her man-whore of a student.

It was so much easier to just fixate on that.

It also meant that Arizona's urge to yell at someone had doubled, and she still had no outlet. She was still in that place of white-hot anger that meant she wasn't ready to sit down with Callie and have a rational conversation. Which was what Callie would want. And simply barking at interns for the rest of the day wasn't going to give her that cathartic release. So as she stormed through her PEDS wing, Arizona had an idea. Callie vented to him all the time, so why couldn't she? They were friends – mostly. And he wasn't exactly a stranger to occasionally being yelled at by her. So with her mind made up, Arizona set off in search of Mark Sloan.

She found him in the first place she looked. The attending's lounge.

"Mark," she barked, waking him from his reverie of coffee, danish and trashy tabloid.

He looked up. "Are you okay? I heard you passed out."

"I'm fine," Arizona replied automatically.

"You don't look fine," Mark countered, raising an eyebrow. "You look pissed."

"I am," Arizona agreed flatly.

"Is Cal in surgery?" Mark asked.

"What? No. Or… I don't know. I don't know where she is," Arizona answered, momentarily confused by the question.

"So Cal's in the doghouse," Mark inferred. "If you're venting to me it means Callie's in trouble."

"What? No," Arizona shot back, her irritation climbing at his attempts to analyze her. If she were actually upset with Callie, she'd go to Sawyer. Not Mark. "I walked in on Sawyer and Karev," she burst, deflecting Mark's attempts at reading her by jumping straight in to the root of her problem. _One_ of her problems.

"What?" Mark asked flatly. "Karev slept with Sawyer?"

"I knew she was seeing someone," Arizona bit back. "I knew it and she lied to me. Lied to my face. God. It's like I don't even know her. How could she hide something like this?"

But Mark wasn't listening. He was grinding his teeth and cracking his knuckles. "I am going to break his stupid little face," Mark swore. He brushed past Arizona and roughly pushed open the door without so much as a backwards glance.

Arizona watched him go in disbelief.

That had not been helpful. Not even remotely. How Callie managed to use that man as a best friend was beyond her. Drinking buddy, sure. That she got. But as a sounding board – he was next to useless.

Now, more frustrated than ever, Arizona marched back to her office, accepting that she really only had one option left. She paged her wife.

Callie's response to her wife's page was almost instant. She'd accomplished very little in the hour since she'd left Arizona other than staring at the device and hoping that Arizona was ready to talk. She honestly hadn't expected it to happen this quickly. Usually, Arizona liked to vent, and to get everything sorted out in her head before having these kinds of serious conversations. But Callie wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Callie knocked before entering Arizona's office. Normally she didn't, but right now, it felt necessary; a little sign of respect for the fact that this was Arizona's space and that Callie had been invited into it.

"Come in," Arizona called.

Pushing open the door, Callie took in her wife's appearance. She did not look like someone who had spent the last hour organizing her thoughts. She looked like she was about to rip someone's head off.

"I need you to know that I - " Callie started, but Arizona put up a hand to silence her.

"No," she said flatly. "We're not talking about that."

"We're… what?" Callie asked.

"We're not talking about _that_ right now," Arizona repeated. "Because right now, I need to yell. And I need you for that."

"Okay," Callie nodded, resigned to her fate. They would talk. Eventually. She knew that. And if Arizona needed to get some yelling out of her system first, she could handle that.

"I walked in on Sawyer and Alex," Arizona shouted. "Naked. And having sex," she added redundantly.

"You what?" Callie asked, completely thrown. She thought Arizona wanted to yell about Timothy. _Shit_. This day had just gotten a whole lot more complicated.

"I mean, not _naked_ naked, their pants were still on, but that's not the point, Callie," Arizona rambled as though Callie had insisted that it _was_ in fact, the point. "If I'd walked in a few minutes later they'd have been completely naked. So we should just be happy I interrupted them before they could get to the good part."

"Um, right, yeah, okay," Callie nodded quickly, eager to agree.

"Karev, Callie. Alex Karev," Arizona continued. "Sawyer is sleeping with Alex Karev. That's almost as bad as sleeping with Mark. The man is a rude, aggressive, inconsiderate man-whore jerk-face!"

Arizona took a deep breath. "And she lied to me, Callie. She _lied_. I asked her if she was seeing anyone and she lied."

"She lied to me too," Callie confirmed, quick to make sure Arizona didn't think she had been party to keeping another secret from her.

"I feel like I don't even know her," Arizona confessed, and Callie noted that she was losing steam. That had sounded less angry and more defeated. "And she clearly doesn't trust me enough to share anything important. We told her about the baby!" Arizona shouted, as tears started to course down her cheeks. "Just her, she's the only one we told. I thought we had that kind of relationship. But obviously she doesn't feel that way. She lied to me. About her relationship. About my," she bit back a sob. "About _our_ brother."

At this, Callie rushed forward and gently grabbed her wife's forearm. "Arizona," she tried softly.

"You lied to me too," Arizona whispered.

"I never lie to you," Callie swore gently.

"But you knew," Arizona argued.

Callie guided Arizona back to the couch against the wall. As they sat, she pulled a folded up piece of paper from her lab coat pocket. "I got this about a minute before Meredith came to tell me you'd fainted," Callie explained.

Arizona unfolded the page and stared at it for a minute, taking in the DNA profiles.

"You ran a DNA test on Tim and Sawyer?" she asked.

Callie nodded. "Sawyer figured out who he was a few weeks ago, but she didn't say anything. I think she wanted to though because when I came late to our trial appointment last week I overheard them arguing. That's how I found out. And I was never going to keep it from you. But it just seemed so insane that I didn't really believe it could be true. So I ran the DNA test, and got it back today."

"So you never lied to me?" Arizona asked, still staring at the DNA report.

"Never," Callie repeated. "I just wanted to be sure. Because if I told you Tim was alive when he really wasn't, that would have been awful. And if that DNA test had come back negative I would have told you that my trial patient was impersonating your brother. I just wanted to know what we were dealing with."

Arizona slumped back against the couch as relief flooded through her. "You didn't lie to me," she whispered.

Callie grasped her hand.

"Sawyer lied to me though," Arizona continued.

"I think she wanted to tell you," Callie replied. "But Tim told her not to. He told her, told both of us that you'd be better off not knowing. That it would be dangerous if you found out. The fact that he's alive is classified information. He said we could be considered a threat to national security. I think Sawyer was trying to protect you."

"Whose side are you on?" Arizona asked, incredulously.

"Yours," Callie swore quickly, giving Arizona's hand a squeeze. "I love you," she promised.

Arizona sighed and closed her eyes. "I love you too."

When her eyes didn't open immediately Callie laid a soft hand on her wife's cheek. Arizona leaned into the touch.

"Hey," Callie said gently. "You've had a rough day. A long day. And when Hunt heard you fainted he said to send you home. I just have to round and then I'm done too."

Arizona opened her eyes. Callie kept her hand in place.

"Do you want to wait for me here? Or do you want me to meet you at home?"

Arizona blinked. "I want to go home."

Callie nodded. " 'kay, Sofia?"

"I'll take her," Arizona replied.

Callie nodded again. That sounded like a good idea. Arizona's day had been filled with deceit and lies. Some cuddles with the most innocent and pure thing in their life probably wouldn't hurt.

Callie leaned in and pressed her lips to Arizona's in a soft kiss. "World's fastest rounds," she promised, pulling back slightly.

Arizona finally managed a little smile. "Thank you," she breathed.

**XXXXXXXX **

Sawyer leaned against the sink in scrub room. She was scrubbing out, having just assisted on an absolutely textbook craniotomy with Lexie. They were the only people left in the scrub room. Taking a minute to survey her best friend, Sawyer let out a sigh. She could at least do this right with Lexie.

"Yes?" Lexie asked with a chuckle, hearing Sawyer's sighs.

Sawyer bit her lip. "I'm seeing Alex," she said slowly.

Lexie turned to face her. "Karev?" she asked.

Sawyer nodded.

"Tonight?" Lexie asked, misunderstanding.

"Um, well, yes," Sawyer consented.

"When did he ask you out? Where are you going?" Lexie asked.

"No, Lex, I've _been_ seeing him," Sawyer clarified.

"Oh," Lexie paused. "For how long?"

"Um…" Sawyer bit her lip. "Three months," she mumbled.

"What?" Lexie cried, staring at Sawyer. "Three months?"

Sawyer thought a moment. "Closer to four actually."

"Four… How is that even possible?" Lexie cried again. "No. You could not have had a boyfriend for the past _four _months that I didn't know about. We live together."

Sawyer shrugged. "You stay at Mark's a lot. Sometimes you're at the hospital. Or Alex and I stay at the hospital. Or his place if April and Jackson aren't home. And sometimes we're just… quiet."

Lexie gaped at her.

"And he hasn't been my boyfriend for four months," Sawyer was quick to continue. "When it started… He always flirted with me because I'm Arizona's sister, so he knew he could never do anything. So it was just fun. But then… we rocked this surgery together so we got a drink, or, a lot of drinks to celebrate and we ended up sleeping together. At first, it was just sex. But then we would talk after, or get dinner after. And I wasn't seeing anyone else. And I realized I didn't _want_ to see anyone else."

"You realized you were dating," Lexie clarified.

Sawyer nodded. "And that we wanted to be dating," she added.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Lexie asked.

"We didn't want to say anything before we knew what… we were," Sawyer tried to explain. "I was worried about what Arizona would say. _He_ was even more worried about what Arizona would say. So it wasn't like we were going to tell her that we were having casual sex. And then when we started to realize that it was becoming something more… I don't know. I think we didn't want to jinx it."

"I guess I get that," Lexie nodded. "Mark and I kept our relationship a secret when we first started dating so that Meredith and Derek wouldn't find out."

Sawyer smiled, grateful for the understanding.

"So what caused this little round of truth telling?" Lexie asked.

Sawyer wiped at her face. "Arizona walked in on us in an on-call room today."

Lexie bit out a laugh. "Excellent way to tell her, Sawyer."

"I know," Sawyer sighed.

"You're gonna be in so much trouble," Lexie laughed, throwing an arm over Sawyer shoulders.

A loud bang sounded against the door to the scrub room.

"What the hell was that?" Lexie asked.

**XXXXXXXX**

Callie was doing her best to make good on her promise to Arizona to finish her rounds with lightning speed. And she had managed to finish in under an hour. She was hurrying to grab her things from the attending's lounge when she was momentarily side tracked. Mark was pacing outside of OR 2. Exactly the same way he had been when she'd passed him half an hour ago.

Knowing that she'd probably regret this later, Callie stopped. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"Waiting for this stupid surgery to finish," Mark huffed.

Callie glanced at the board. "Why are you waiting on a pediatric parathyroidectomy?"

But she received her answer in the form of Alex Karev, pushing open the door to the scrub room.

"You," Mark spat, grabbing Alex by the front of his scrubs and pining him against the door to the scrub room opposite the one he had just exited.

"Mark!" Callie shouted.

"Get off me!" Alex shouted.

"I told you… I was very clear," Mark said, lifting Alex off his feet and shoving him back into the door. "Not to touch her."

"Mark, what the hell are you doing?" Callie demanded.

"Back off man," Alex replied harshly. "She's a big girl. She can make her own decisions. Seriously. Get off me," Alex repeated, grabbing Mark's arm and freeing himself with the practiced ease of a wrestler.

"He slept with Sawyer," Mark accused, and as Alex freed himself from the door, it burst open to expel Lexie and Sawyer.

"Mark!" Lexie scolded.

"He slept with her!" Mark repeated.

"They're together," Lexie clarified.

"What?" Mark replied indignantly. "No. He's not good enough for her."

"Don't you think I know that?" Alex spat back.

"Shut up. Both of you," Sawyer snapped. "Alex, don't talk like that. And Mark. This is my life. And Alex makes me happy. So back the hell off." She took Alex's hand. "C'mon," she said, tugging him along with her.

Callie finally laughed. "Wow," she chuckled as she shook her head. She pushed past the gaggle of nurses and interns that had stopped to watch the show. At least she could return home with a story that was bound to make Arizona smile.

**I was a very good author this week and got a lot written for this. So yay for that. But I have 2 papers and a presentation in the next two weeks; so unfortunately, the update pace will most likely slow a little over that period of time. As always, I will do everything in my power to keep this updated as regularly as possible. So until next time, leave me a review my friends!**


	15. Chapter 15

**I know! It's been almost a week since the last update! You have my sincere apologies. Hopefully you all enjoy this installment enough to make up for the delay.**

"So thanks to that little show, I think our days of sneaking around are behind us," Sawyer chuckled. She glanced at Alex beside her as they made their way down the hall. He wasn't smiling.

"Hey," Sawyer called, rousing Alex from his thoughts. "Are you okay? Did Mark - "

"Please, my patients hit harder than Sloan," Alex scoffed.

Sawyer raised an eyebrow.

Alex sighed. "He's right you know. I'm not good enough for you."

Sawyer shook her head. "Yes you are. Mark doesn't know what he's talking about." Alex looked unconvinced. "You are what I want, Alex," Sawyer stated emphatically. "And if I'm so _great_," she added with a roll of her eyes, "I should get what I want."

It was Alex's turn to roll his eyes. "You always get what you want."

"No I don't," Sawyer pouted playfully.

"Um, I watched _The_ _Notebook_ last week."

"And cried," Sawyer added with a smirk.

"I was not crying," Alex objected indignantly.

"Please, only a robot wouldn't cry. You cried," Sawyer stated flatly. "And I watched UFC with you yesterday."

"Yeah, but that's awesome," Alex argued.

Sawyer smirked, noting the ways that Arizona and pediatrics had rubbed off on Alex. "UFC is disgusting," she countered.

"You like hockey," Alex reasoned.

"Yeah, but in hockey, fighting is just one part of the game. It's not the whole point."

They'd reached the end of the hallway.

"I have to go see if one of my interns finally has Holden's labs," Alex sighed.

"Mmm, interns," Sawyer agreed. "I should go make sure mine aren't killing anyone." She reluctantly let go of his hand.

"I'll see you at six," Alex promised, heading in one direction.

"Six," Sawyer agreed over her shoulder as she headed in the other.

**XXXXXXXX**

When Callie arrived home from the hospital she found Arizona and Sofia seated at the kitchen table, munching away on pancakes. Pancakes were one of the few meals Arizona hadn't figured out how to ruin, and so she made them often. Callie smacked a big kiss against Sofia's sticky cheek and placed a softer one on Arizona's lips in greeting.

"Mmm," Arizona smiled in response. "We saved you some pancakes."

"Thanks," Callie grinned, rounding the table to retrieve her lunch.

"Sofia and Parker and Zola went outside and played in the puddles today," Arizona added.

"You did?" Callie asked excitedly, turning back to face her little girl.

Sofia nodded happily. "We jump!" she exclaimed.

Callie smiled and took her seat beside Arizona placing a warm hand on her wife's thigh and giving a gentle squeeze to let her know that she understood. They could have family time now and leave the serious conversation until Sofia went down for her nap.

Sofia started to crash not long after Callie had wiped her face and hands free of syrup and deposited her on the rug in the living room in front of her toy chest. Watching her daughter droop, Arizona rose from the couch and scooped her up. Sofia looped her arms around her mother's neck and nuzzled against her collarbone.

"Sleepy time, baby girl?" Arizona asked leadingly.

Sofia nodded sweetly without a trace of her on-again off-again terrible twos. "You too, Momma?"

"Hmm," Arizona hummed as she kissed Sofia's forehead. "Sure." She pulled back the covers and slipped into Sofia's bed with her. The little girl rested her head on Arizona's chest as the blonde rubbed her hand up and down her daughter's back. Sofia was asleep within minutes. Arizona lay with her a while longer before she quietly placed a kiss on her hairline and crept from the bed.

Cracking the door behind her, Arizona made her way back to the living room where Callie was waiting after tidying the remnants of the pancakes.

Flopping onto the couch beside her wife, Arizona let her head rest on Callie's shoulder. "She's so perfect," Arizona sighed, referring to their sleeping angel down the hall.

"She is," Callie agreed.

Arizona sighed again. "Today sucked."

Callie wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

They sat in silence for a while before Arizona spoke again in a quiet voice. "Callie?" she asked.

"Hmm?" Callie replied as her fingers threaded aimlessly through the ends of Arizona's hair.

"Please don't fix him," Arizona whispered.

"What?" Callie asked, voice also quiet.

"Please," Arizona repeated, lifting her head from Callie's shoulder to meet her gaze through the tears that had started falling.

"Don't fix Tim?" Callie questioned, wiping at Arizona's tears.

Arizona nodded. "I looked at his files, at your trial, before you came home. His knee is done. If you don't fix him, he can't go back there. He'd be done. He'd be safe."

"We could get in a lot of trouble. Tim could go to prison," Callie replied softly. If she backed out of the trial, or had Tim removed for some reason, it was going to raise some red flags. If Tim was investigated, the military could realize that they'd uncovered his identity. He could end up in jail. Callie, Arizona and Sawyer could also face some serious consequences. Callie had been angry when she'd threatened to stop Tim's treatment. But after having time to think about it, she knew she had to go through with the trial and Tim's procedure. To protect her family.

"I don't care," Arizona replied, shaking her head. "If he's in prison… he'd be safe. I'd know where he is."

"Arizona," Callie whispered.

"I don't think I can lose him again, Callie," Arizona continued as she cried harder. "I can't do it again. It almost killed me the first time it hurt so much. I can't do it again. I can't… I can't…"

Callie pulled Arizona to her in a tight hug and held her as she sobbed. One hand rubbed up and down her back while the other stroked her hair. She placed gentle kisses along her hairline and whispered soothing words in her ear.

After a while, Arizona's sobs calmed and her tears ceased. She pulled her knees to her chest and settled against Callie.

"Mark threw Karev into a wall," Callie offered after a few minutes of comfortable silence.

"Seriously?" Arizona asked, glancing up at her wife. Callie didn't miss the smile playing at her lips.

"Mmm," Callie nodded. "He waited for him to come out of surgery and grabbed him, yelling about how he's not good enough for Sawyer."

Arizona chuckled.

"How did he know about them?" Callie asked. "Because after his little show, the whole hospital totally knows. But at first, people looked pretty shocked."

"I told him," Arizona supplied.

"Really?" Callie asked, raising an eyebrow.

Arizona nodded. "I wanted to vent to someone. I thought I was still mad at you so I figured I'd go to Mark."

Callie laughed.

"That was a bust though," Arizona continued. "After I told him he just stormed out of the room like a caveman. Honestly, Calliope, I have no idea how you can use him as your best friend."

Callie chuckled. "Please, Arizona, Mark's not my best friend."

Arizona rotated her body to face her wife with a look of confusion. "He's not?" she asked. "Then who's your best friend?"

"You are, you moron," Callie laughed.

"Oh," Arizona replied.

"Mark is a great friend and I love him," Callie smiled. "But you're my wife. You're my partner. Of course you're my best friend." Callie grabbed a handful of Arizona's shirt and tugged her closer. "I love you so much."

Arizona leaned in for a kiss and let her forehead rest against Callie's. "God, I love you too," she whispered.

**XXXXXXXX**

The next day at work, Callie found that her prediction had been right. Word of Alex and Sawyer's relationship had spread like wildfire after Mark's confrontation outside of the scrub room. It was all anyone was talking about. How Dr. Logan had finally tamed Dr. "Playboy" Karev. How Karev was definitely going to break Logan's heart. She was too sweet for him. He was too tough for her. And on and on and on. Although it wasn't all bad. Meredith, Derek, Bailey, a good handful of the PEDS nurses who'd learned to see past his gruff exterior, and even Cristina were all pleased that Alex had finally found a nice girl to get serious with.

Alex barked at the first intern who asked him about his new relationship so viciously that he deterred anyone from speaking to him about it all day. Sawyer on the other hand, was too nice to yell at people, and so she'd spent most of her morning either deflecting or ignoring questions.

So Sawyer was relieved to say the least when lunch break came and she could escape the questions to have lunch with her boyfriend. She could deal with the staring.

Alex and Sawyer sat chatting and poking at their pasta for a while until Lexie came to join them. She greeted the new couple with a smile. After getting over her initial shock about the fact that Sawyer had managed to keep the relationship a secret for so long, Lexie had been nothing but happy for her best friend.

Their amicable lunch took a bit of a downturn however when Mark and Callie showed up to the cafeteria, and Mark pointedly took a seat next to Lexie while staring at Alex. Alex rolled his eyes but said nothing. When Callie took her seat next to Mark, Sawyer's gaze dropped quickly to her food.

Things got downright awkward when five minutes later, Arizona showed up for lunch. Conversation came to a complete standstill when the blonde dropped into the seat next to her wife.

After a full minute in which no one spoke, Lexie, ever the people pleaser, took it upon herself to mediate the situation.

"Okay, c'mon now guys," Lexie started. "We're all friends. There's no reason that we can't be happy for our friends," she gestured at Sawyer and Alex. "You know, be happy that they've found each other."

"Hmph," Mark grunted.

"What?" Alex asked, dropping his fork. "What is your problem?"

"You are," Mark replied, pointing. "You being with her," he pointed at Sawyer.

"Mark," Lexie tried.

"No," Mark argued. "I don't like it. Sawyer, you're a nice girl. You're a good girl. You deserve a nice guy."

Sawyer opened her mouth to argue, but Alex beat her to it. "I'm a nice guy," he countered sarcastically.

"Really?" Mark asked. "I mean, just look around. Look at this table."

"What about it?" Alex asked, picking his fork back up and stabbing his pasta.

"There are five other people sitting here and you've slept with three of them. You've slept with everyone at this table who _would_ sleep with you. The only people here you haven't banged are the lesbian," he pointed at Arizona, "and the dude," he added, pointing at himself.

"So what?" Alex countered quickly, jumping in again before Sawyer could speak. "So what? So has Torres."

"Excuse me?" Callie asked, raising her brow.

"The only people at this table that Torres hasn't nailed are the straight chicks. She's slept with three people here. She's slept with everyone who _would_ sleep with her too."

Sawyer's hand shot up to cover her eyes. "Not. Helping," she muttered from the corner of her mouth.

"Whatever," Alex said as he stood. "I don't need this crap." He stooped and placed a quick, harsh kiss against Sawyer's lips before striding from the cafeteria.

Sawyer looked a little taken aback for a moment before she reached behind Lexie and slapped Mark in the back of the head.

"Hey, ow," Mark complained, reaching up to rub the offended spot.

"Listen," Sawyer said angrily, pointing at Mark. "Who I see, who I'm dating, is absolutely none of your business. So you can cut this crap out now, Mark. And I don't know where you get off calling someone a whore. Debra told me that the nurses once went on strike against you because you'd slept with so many of them. So pull your head out of your ass. I'm sure that there were plenty of people telling Lexie that you weren't good enough for her when the two of you got together, and where would you be if she'd listened to them? You'd probably have caused the entire hospital to go on strike against you."

Sawyer took a breath to continue ranting, but when she caught Arizona's eye, her fire went out. She sighed, grabbed her tray, and left the table.

Mark grumpily took a bite of his burger. "You don't like them either," he complained, gesturing at Arizona. "How come you don't get yelled at?"

"Well for one thing she didn't just call Alex a slut," Lexie offered with a roll of her eyes.

"She lied to me," Arizona replied. "She didn't just keep it a secret, I asked her if she was seeing anyone and she lied to me. I'm allowed to be pissed about that. The fact that who she's seeing happens to be Alex Karev is just the icing on this crappy cake."

Lexie opened her mouth to speak, but seemed to decide against it. She bit her lip.

Noticing her actions Arizona rounded on the young attending. "What, what is it Little Grey?"

Lexie sighed. "It's just… I know a thing or two about trying to build a relationship with the sister you never knew you had."

"And?" Arizona asked. "What's your point?"

"I don't think you realize, Arizona, you have all of the power in your relationship," Lexie continued.

Callie and Arizona both looked confused.

"When you met Sawyer she had no one," Lexie clarified. "You let her into _your_ life. You made her a part of _your_ family. So she's always just a little bit afraid that you could take that all away from her so she's terrified of upsetting you."

"She has a strange way of showing that," Arizona countered. "She lied to me. To my face."

"Yeah, but think about _why_ she lied to you," Lexie continued. "She lied so that you wouldn't get upset with her."

"That's not exactly sound logic," Arizona argued. "She had to know that eventually I'd find out about them, and know that she lied, and that I'd be upset."

"I didn't say it was sound logic," Lexie agreed. "But you know Sawyer. She's a rarity for a surgical program. She's a type B. She's laid back and easy going and she avoids confrontation at all costs."

Arizona bit her lip, because that actually was true. Sawyer rarely argued. She was the most happy-go-lucky person Arizona knew.

"I know she shouldn't have lied to you," Lexie added. "But I also know that she would never do it to hurt you, because she loves you. So maybe you should cut her a little slack."

As she finished, Lexie and Mark's pagers went of simultaneously.

"Damn it's Jeremy," Mark muttered, referring to the case he and Lexie were currently working together.

As the couple left the table, Callie's hand found Arizona's knee. "Just because she didn't mean to hurt you doesn't mean you don't get to be angry," Callie reasoned.

"I know," Arizona nodded, although she sounded less sure of herself than she would have before lunch.

"But Lexie is right when she says that Sawyer loves you. And I know you love your sister. So maybe you should think about talking to her. Eventually."

Arizona nodded again. "Eventually," she agreed.

**Woohoo! So I've still got all of my balls in the air. I just love a good juggler ;) **

**Hope you enjoyed this installment. I will do my best to have the next one out ASAP. Until then, let me hear it!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Sooo. None of you seem at all pleased with Sawyer after that last installment. Aha! That's good! You should be upset with her. I'm less than impressed with her behavior myself. Anyone think that this might be the chapter where she turns it around and starts groveling and apologizing for what she's done & how she's acting?**

**Well, read onwards and downwards to find out my friends!**

Being woken from the middle of a deep sleep by the sound of a pager was one of the few things Callie hated about being a doctor. Nothing in med school had prepared her for the equal parts fear and resentment that flow through your body at that sound in the middle night. She'd learned to live with it over the years, so she thought she'd never hate it as much as she had during those first few months as an intern.

But she was wrong.

Now that they had Sofia, a middle of the night page was so much worse. It was fine if it was just one of them being paged in, but on those occasions when both Callie and Arizona were needed at the hospital, when daycare wasn't open yet and Mark was elsewhere, it meant they had to rouse Sofia from her sleep (an unpleasant task given that Sofia woke up in much the same manner that Callie did – slowly), wrestle her to the hospital, and finagle some unsuspecting intern or nurse to watch her until one of her parents became free, or the daycare opened – whichever came first.

Such was the case on this morning when at 4am, Callie and Arizona were both jolted awake by the blaring of their pagers. Both knew that Mark was already at the hospital. And so Callie sighed and resigned herself to the less than enjoyable task of retrieving Sofia.

Callie was in and out on her MVA patient in under 3 hours. Daycare didn't open until 8, so Callie grabbed Sofia back from Debra, (one of the PEDS nurses that Callie and Arizona both liked and trusted), and headed off to her office to hang out with her daughter for the hour before daycare opened.

Sofia, who had napped for the first few hours of her day at the hospital, was still in her pajamas. Debra had given her breakfast when she'd woken up (the evidence was clear by the yogurt still smeared across her cheek).

"Time to get ready for daycare?" Callie asked leadingly.

"Mhmm," Sofia nodded, going to the bag she knew her mother had packed her clothes in for her that morning. Sofia pulled out a bright striped dress and some leggings followed by her green flowers shirt and some jeans. Arizona had packed two options, knowing that even at 2, Sofia liked to pick out her own clothes.

"What'll it be?" Callie asked with a smile.

Thoughtfully pondering both outfits for a moment, Sofia pointed to the dress. Callie helped her pull it on with minimal fuss.

"Now maybe we should do something about your hair, hmm?" Callie asked, mussing Sofia's unruly bedhead. Sofia giggled, and settled contentedly in her mother's desk chair while Callie brushed out her dark locks.

"Mami, you do two braids?" Sofia asked, holding up two little fingers.

"Oh…" Callie faltered. Arizona could braid Sofia's hair in seconds and it looked perfect every time. Callie had never cared for braiding (aside from how adorable it looked on her girls) and she'd never really learned how. She made a mental note to get Arizona to teach her later. "Sure baby," Callie agreed. It probably wouldn't look as spectacular as Arizona's braids did, but she could manage some pigtails.

As Callie started separating Sofia's hair, a knock sounded at her office door. "Come in," Callie called distractedly, eyes focused on her work.

She didn't look up when she heard the door open, but Sofia did. "Auntie Sawyer!" the little girl shouted, jumping off of the chair, away from Callie's fingers and running to hug her aunt.

Sofia usually saw Auntie Sawyer at least 3 or 4 times a week. Either Sawyer came by one of her parent's apartments, or they stopped by Auntie Sawyer's place, or if all else failed, Sawyer would make a point of heading down to the daycare to play with her niece for a little while. Over these past few days however, Sawyer had made a point of staying away, unsure of how Arizona would react to her spending time with her daughter.

"Hey, Sof," Sawyer greeted, crouching to hug her niece.

"Mami's doing my hair," Sofia declared when Sawyer let her go and she bounded back to her seat in Callie's chair.

"I can see that," Sawyer smiled.

"What is it?" Callie asked, returning to work on her daughter's braids.

"Um," Sawyer glanced at Sofia. "Captain Baron is coming in today, in uh… in about 15 minutes for his mobility tests."

Callie bit her lip as she concentrated on Sofia's hair. "At 7:30?" she asked.

"Yeah," Sawyer replied. "I scheduled him early because I was hoping that that way he wouldn't run into - "

"Arizona," Callie finished for her. "Hmmm," Callie bit her lip again, moving to work on the other braid. "Daycare doesn't open until 8. I can't - "

"It's fine," Sawyer said quickly. "I can do it. It won't take long."

"Right," Callie replied. Her fingers worked down to the end of Sofia's pigtail while Sawyer stood and watched her in silence. Wrapping a hair elastic around the end, Callie stood up.

"Can I see?" Sofia asked when Callie moved away.

"Sure," Callie agreed, fishing a mirror out of her desk drawer and holding it up for Sofia. The little girl stared at herself for a moment as Callie studied her handiwork. It looked terrible. They were two different lengths and thicknesses, they stuck out at two funny angles, and little pieces of hair were poking out all over the place.

Sofia shook her head. "No Mami, I don't like it. You do the ones that start here?" She asked, touching the top of her head.

Callie sighed. "I don't know babe."

"I think she means a French braid," Sawyer offered from her place in the doorway.

Callie glanced at her sister-in-law. Knowing Sawyer for a couple of years now, she'd gotten used to how much the younger woman actually resembled her wife. But every now and again, she would be struck by just how much the two women looked alike. Sometimes it was a smile, or a stance, or a certain way they'd cock their head. Today, it was the hair. Sawyer had her hair pulled into an intricate braided style that swooped back from the front allowing certain pieces to fall and frame her face.

Callie sighed. "Can Auntie Sawyer do it?" she asked Sofia.

Sofia nodded happily.

Sawyer stepped forward and began to effortlessly wick Sofia's hair into a tight, neat French braid.

"Callie, I…" Sawyer started as her fingers flew.

Callie raised her brow.

"I'm so sorry," Sawyer breathed.

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to," Callie deflected.

"You're not the only one," Sawyer countered. "But I lied to you too. And I know saying _it just happened_ sounds so stupid, and saying that _I was scared_ sounds even worse. But I really don't have anything else I can say."

"I'm not the one who _needs_ to hear this," Callie pointed out.

"I know," Sawyer admitted as she finished the first perfect braid. "I never wanted to hurt her. Or you. I want you guys to be able to trust me the way I've always been able to trust you. I know I screwed up. So bad."

"You should be saying this to Arizona," Callie repeated, arms crossing over her chest.

Sawyer nodded. "I know. God… I suck at this."

Callie finally smiled. "That, I know. But you have to try."

Sawyer nodded as she finished Sofia's second pigtail. "There you go Sof," she declared, forcing a cheerfulness back into her voice as she held up the mirror. Sofia beamed.

"What do you say?" Callie prompted.

"Thank you Auntie Sawyer!" Sofia grinned, throwing her arms around her aunt for another hug.

"You're welcome Sofia-bear," Sawyer smiled, dropping a kiss on her head. She checked her watch. "I should go meet… Baron."

Callie nodded.

Sawyer paused with her hand on the doorknob. "I am sorry. So sorry."

"I know you are," Callie nodded. And with that, Sawyer left.

**XXXXXXXX**

Half an hour after Sawyer left them, Callie and Sofia were spread out on the floor doing a jigsaw puzzle when Callie heard her office door crack open.

"Debra told me I would find some pretty girls in here," Arizona announced as she pushed the door shut behind her.

"Hi Momma!" Sofia greeted, bouncing up from the floor to run to Arizona.

"Hello Sweetheart," Arizona greeted. She kissed her cheek and ran her hand over her daughter's hair. Sofia took her hand and led her back to their puzzle on the floor.

"Did you do her hair?" Arizona asked as she sat beside her wife. "I didn't know you could braid."

"I can't," Callie shook her head. "I _really_ need you to teach me."

Arizona chuckled. "I can do that. Debra did it then?"

Callie shook her head again. "No, Sawyer did it."

Arizona paused.

"She came by to tell me that," Callie glanced at Sofia, "Captain Baron is here today."

Arizona's head snapped around to look at Callie.

"Sawyer rescheduled his mobility tests for this morning. He's in the physiotherapy gym with her right now."

Arizona thought on that for a moment. "I want to talk to him," she decided.

"Are you sure?" Callie asked.

Arizona nodded.

"Do you want me to come too?" Callie questioned. "Daycare just opened. We're just hanging out. I can drop her off if you want me to."

Arizona shook her head. "No. Thank you, but… I think I need to do this by myself."

"Okay," Callie nodded. "I'll be here for you when you're done."

"I know you will," Arizona smiled softly.

**XXXXXXXX **

"So Arizona's mad at you?" Tim was saying as he pushed the weight on the workout machine.

Sawyer made a note on his chart. "Yeah. Right after she found out about you, she walked in on - "

"You and your boyfriend?" Tim supplied.

"Alex," Sawyer offered. "Yeah, she did. You pair that with the fact that I didn't tell her about you and well… you might be the only person in the world she hates more than me right now."

"Well at least I'm winning," Tim shrugged. "I'm very competitive."

Sawyer chuckled.

"What's so funny?"

Sawyer and Tim both whipped around to see Arizona standing in the doorway.

"You too just catching up?" she asked sarcastically.

"Arizona," Sawyer started.

"Oh, did you have something to say to me?" Arizona asked facetiously, more than a little annoyed with Sawyer's silence over the last few days. Not that she'd been expecting anything different; she knew her sister, but that didn't mean it wasn't aggravating.

Sawyer's mouth opened and closed and she looked like she was going to cry.

"Get out," Arizona instructed. "I want to talk to… him."

Sawyer swallowed and nodded. "Okay," she agreed as she quickly left the room. It was early enough that Arizona and Tim now had the room to themselves.

Arizona pointed at her brother. "You don't speak. I get to… I need to…"

"Kay," Tim nodded quickly.

Arizona took a deep breath. "A single day has not gone by since you… died, that I have not thought about you. Have not missed you. And grieved for you. You have no idea… _no idea_ what that feels like. To miss someone the way I missed you. But you were gone and my life just kept happening. You should have been there Tim. You should have been there for _so_ much. Nick died. Did you know that? Your best friend, Nick Sarbacker. He had cancer. Mom had a heart attack. Sofia was born _17 weeks_ premature. Callie almost died in a car accident. I found out that Dad had an affair and a secret love child." Arizona took a breath, she could feel the tears that wanted to come but she fought them back. "And… and… I got married. I was chief resident at Johns Hopkins. I won the Carter Madison grant. My wife had a baby. We have a sister. You should have _been there_. But you weren't. And every day I missed you, and thought about how you could have been there for me if you hadn't been taken. But I was wrong. No one took you. You left. You left us. You left me. I loved you. So much. And you just walked away."

Arizona took a deep breath and cursed the tears that had started slipping down her cheeks.

"Can I talk now?" Tim asked.

Arizona scoffed and gestured for him to go ahead.

"I am so deeply sorry for the pain I caused you," Tim started. "But don't think, not even for a second, that it didn't hurt me too. Because I know. I know what it feels like to miss someone the way you missed me. Because I missed you, too. And Mom and Dad, and every other person I love."

"It's not the same," Arizona shot back. "I thought you were dead. _Dead_, Timothy. You knew where we all were."

"And that I would never ever get to see you again. And that I was causing you all pain."

"That was your choice!" Arizona shouted. "You left us."

"I had to, Arizona. People were dying. The work I did, have been doing since my _death_, I've saved thousands of lives," Tim pressed. "You're a doctor. You have to understand that."

"I don't," Arizona shook her head. "What you put us through – I could never do that to the people I love."

"You left Callie," Tim challenged. "To go to Malawi to help those kids. You loved her and you left her."

"I was wrong," Arizona countered angrily. "I came back for her. Leaving Callie like that was the biggest mistake of my life."

"You were doing the right thing," Tim reasoned.

"No, I wasn't," Arizona replied defiantly.

Tim shook his head.

"If you're so sure that what you did was right, Tim, then what the hell are you doing here?" Arizona demanded. "You could have had some military surgeon perform Callie's procedure off the record. You didn't need to come to Seattle."

"I told you," Tim sighed. "I missed you. Just because what I did was the right thing doesn't mean that I don't regret it sometimes. It doesn't mean that I don't wish I could have my old life back."

"That's not fair," Arizona bit. "To put me through this. To put my family through this."

"I know," Tim agreed. "I never meant to hurt you like this. You were never supposed to find out."

"Well I did," Arizona spat. "And I don't know if I can ever forgive you for that."

"I need you to know how sorry I am. For hurting you," Tim pleaded. "I don't want you to ever forget that."

Arizona wiped at her tears. "So this is it? Callie does the procedure next week and then I never see you again?"

Tim too, looked close to tears. "That's the way it has to be AJ. I'm sorry." He shook his head. "I love you."

Arizona stared at Timothy for a moment. Then she turned on her heel and stormed from the room.

**So. I hope you enjoyed this installment. I know a lot of characters are behaving in incredibly frustrating ways right now. It won't be like this forever. I prefer to write about happy people, aha. Until then, leave me a review. I find your feedback incredibly valuable. Cheers!**


	17. Chapter 17

After dropping Sofia off at daycare, Callie made her way to the physiotherapy gym. She was hoping Arizona might still be there so that she could make sure she was okay. But even if she wasn't, this was still Callie's trial. She couldn't keep delegating everything to Sawyer. Given the circumstances, it was nice to have an assistant who was as competent as her sister-in-law, but she should still be there. Because today, she really needed to have a chat with Timothy.

Rounding the corner, Callie saw Sawyer leaning against the wall across from the double doors to the gym. "Is Arizona still in there?" Callie asked, coming up beside Sawyer.

Sawyer nodded.

"So you're just… what?" Callie asked. She could hear Arizona's raised voice floating through the doors. "Eavesdropping?"

Sawyer shook her head. "I'm not really listening. But I thought I'd better guard the door. Just in case someone walked in on them."

"Oh," Callie replied. That was actually a necessary precaution.

The doors burst open and Arizona emerged from the room, her face streaked with tears. Catching sight of Callie and Sawyer standing together, Arizona shot a look at her sister before making her way to her wife.

Sawyer quickly ducked back into the gym to give the couple their privacy as Callie opened her arms to Arizona.

"Hey," Callie greeted softly, her thumbs wiping at Arizona's tears.

"Hi," Arizona hiccupped. She glanced behind her. "Do you need to go in there?"

"I have a minute," Callie answered easily.

"Kay," Arizona replied, letting her forehead rest against Callie's shoulder.

"Do you want to talk?" Callie asked.

Arizona shook her head. "Not… not yet. I need to clear my head and just… I need to work."

"Okay," Callie agreed. "Later?"

Arizona nodded. "Later." And with a quick kiss, she made her way down the hall.

Callie watched her go. It hurt her so much to see Arizona hurting like this. Now more resolved than ever, Callie pushed open the door to the gym.

**XXXXXXXX **

With Sofia at her dad's for the night, Callie and Arizona had a quiet dinner together. Callie carried most of the conversation. Arizona was distracted. Callie, of course, knew where her thoughts were. But she also knew that that wasn't a conversation for the dinner table. That was a talk best had curled up on the couch, with a couple of glasses of wine. Or, wine for Arizona, tea for herself. It had only been 5 days since the implantation, so they had another 9 to wait before they could take a pregnancy test, but Callie wasn't taking any chances.

They cleaned up quietly together. As Arizona put the last of the dishes away, Callie turned on the kettle for herself, and grabbed a wine glass for Arizona.

Arizona shook her head. "I'll have tea too."

Callie nodded and grabbed another mug. When the tea was ready, Callie handed a mugful to Arizona, then took her hand and led her to the couch.

Settling together, Callie pressed a kiss to Arizona's temple. "Do you wanna talk about what happened with Tim today?"

Arizona sighed. "I yelled at my brother today." She paused. "When he died, I thought I'd never get over it. That it would never seem real. But today, standing there, yelling at him… _that_ felt surreal. Because I did get used to him being gone. And somehow this all just doesn't seem real."

Callie nodded. "It is pretty insane. I mean, this kind of thing doesn't happen to people. It's gonna take a long time to get your head around."

Arizona nodded. She sipped her tea for a moment before she asked, "Callie?"

"Mmm?" Callie replied.

"Do you think I'm like him?"

Callie looked confused. "That you're like Timothy?"

Arizona nodded.

"Honey, I don't know what you mean," Callie replied.

"He said…" Arizona paused. "Today, he said that his death was faked so that he could help people, that he left us so that he could save lives."

"Okay," Callie nodded.

"He said I did the same thing when I left you to go to Malawi," Arizona whispered.

"Oh, Arizona," Callie breathed. She set down her tea and tugged Arizona's arm so that the blonde was facing her.

"I'm so sorry," Arizona cried. "I never thought about it like this before but… I can't believe I hurt you like that."

"Arizona, it's not the same thing," Callie argued. "Yes. When you left me in that airport, you hurt me. But after you left, I was grieving for our relationship, not for your life – which would have been 1000 times worse."

"I'm so sorry," Arizona whispered again.

"Arizona, I honestly believe that you leaving me in that airport – that it saved us. If I'd gone to Malawi we would have self-destructed. I never wanted to go. The passive aggressive fights would have turned into resentment and full-blown fighting and we would have fallen apart. Leaving me in the airport the way you did – no, that wasn't the ideal way to handle it. But if you'd only been thinking about those kids, you wouldn't have cared if I'd come with you or not. You made me stay, for me. Because you loved me. That's not even close to what Timothy did. You're not your brother."

"He's gonna leave me again," Arizona stated softly.

Callie pulled the blonde towards her as her tears started to fall.

"Don't ever leave me," Arizona managed between her tears.

"I'm not going anywhere. I'm not going anywhere," Callie repeated as Arizona clung to her. "I love you. I'm not going anywhere."

A while later, when Arizona's tears had subsided, she lay snuggly wrapped in Callie's arms. She sighed and sat up. "I hate feeling like this," she stated.

"I know," Callie acknowledged. "I hate that you have to feel like this."

"I shouldn't have to though," Arizona reasoned. "I haven't done anything. Tim and Sawyer are the liars. They should have to feel like this."

Callie gave a little laugh. "It'd be nice if life was that fair."

"I think… I think talking to Tim helped today, though."

"Good," Callie nodded.

"I'm gonna talk to Sawyer tomorrow," Arizona declared. By rights, Sawyer should be the one trying to talk to her. Groveling, apologizing and begging for forgiveness. But Arizona knew her sister. And she avoided confrontation like the plague. She'd stay away, in a self-imposed solitude because she was afraid of pressing herself on someone and upsetting them further. Her attitude made no sense to Arizona, who liked to deal with her problems head on. Quite frankly, she found Sawyer's behavior incredibly aggravating.

"I think that's a good idea," Callie agreed.

**XXXXXXXX**

Arizona had gone to bed pleased with her plan of attack for the next day. She would find Sawyer alone, and simply let her know that she was hurt and that she owed her an apology.

Arizona had not been counting on being paged in early for a second day in a row. Granted, they weren't paged until 7:30 this time, so both women were awake. But they hadn't been due in until 9:00, and so their tradition of shower sex on mornings when Sofia was with Mark had been rudely interrupted, followed by frantic scrambling to make it out of the apartment and answer their 911s.

They were met with pure chaos when they entered the hospital.

"Good, you're here," Owen greeted as he happened to walk past the door as the couple came in.

"What the hell happened?" Callie asked.

"Massive fire at an apartment complex," Owen supplied. The whole thing went up in minutes."

Callie let out a low whistle.

"What time did that happen," Arizona asked as the trio made their way down the hall. Surveying the progress around her Arizona added, "You look like you've been at it a while."

"They started coming in around midnight," Owen confirmed. "But I paged the two of you in at 4am yesterday, so I held off on you. I kept the last shift here instead. But they keep finding more trapped survivors so I couldn't hold off on paging you any longer."

"Right," Callie nodded. "Thanks."

Parting ways with Owen at the attending's lounge to change their clothes, Arizona and Callie were greeted with an empty room, save for the television that was rolling with breaking news. As they changed, the couple listened to the report. It wasn't just any apartment building that had gone up, it was one of the biggest in Seattle, a 40-storey complex that housed hundreds of people. Firefighters had yet to get the blaze under control, and when they did, they were still going to have to search for survivors through a massive amount of rubble.

As Callie pulled on her lab coat, Arizona stepped up behind her and straightened it for her, placing a kiss on her cheek. "You ready?" she asked.

Callie nodded.

"It's gonna be a long one," Arizona sighed.

**XXXXXXXX**

"Long one" turned out to be an understatement. It was 10:30 before Callie and Arizona were able to head home. Arizona had performed 6 surgeries that day. Callie had performed 8. Both had eaten their lunch over the sink in the scrub room, just waiting for the next patient to be wheeled in.

As they walked from the building, hand in hand, Callie asked, "Did you get a chance to talk to Sawyer today?" Although she suspected she already knew the answer.

"No," Arizona sighed. "I'll do it tomorrow. I can handle one more night of feeling like crap."

"Do you want to talk to her tonight?" Callie asked.

"I think she already went home, Calliope," Arizona replied.

Callie pointed. "Lexie's leaving."

"Oh… Lexie!" Arizona called.

The young attending turned as Arizona ran up to her.

"Are you sleeping at your place or Mark's tonight?" Arizona asked.

"Mark's," Lexie replied. Arizona's face fell. "But I have to go home first to grab a few things," she added.

"Could I get a ride with you?" Arizona asked. "I need to talk to Sawyer."

"Absolutely," Lexie replied quickly. She was Sawyer's best friend. And even if Sawyer was avoiding Arizona, Lexie knew that what the two really needed was to talk.

Arizona waved to Callie to let her know that she was going with Lexie. Callie had asked her last night if she wanted her to be there when she spoke to Sawyer. But the blonde had decided that this chat, like the one she'd had with Timothy, was something that she wanted to do by herself. And she knew Callie would be there when she was done.

Arriving at their apartment, Lexie put her key in the door and let Arizona inside. Lexie made a quick dash to her bedroom, eager to grab her things and get to Mark's. Arizona made her way through the kitchen to head back to Sawyer's room, but she stopped in the living room. There, lying on the couch together, sound asleep, were Sawyer and Alex.

Alex and Sawyer were both on the shift that Hunt had kept at the hospital to handle the first wave of the apartment fire. They'd both been at the hospital for almost 40 hours without anything close to a break or a nap. It looked like they'd simply passed out as soon as they'd walked through the door. Alex had kicked off his shoes beside the couch but he still wore his jacket. Sawyer was still wearing her boots and coat, her head resting on Alex's chest while his hand lay on the small of her back.

Arizona surveyed the couple for a moment before kicking the leg of the couch to wake them. Alex didn't move. Sawyer stirred, but simply burrowed further into Alex's chest.

"Sawyer," Arizona barked.

Sawyer's eyes opened slowly. She blinked twice before her brain registered her sister's presence in front of her.

"Arizona," Sawyer breathed, quickly sitting up.

"No," Alex whined without opening his eyes. He reached out blindly and grabbed Sawyer's arm, pulling his "blanket" back on top of him.

Caught off balance, Sawyer dropped down to rest on her forearm. "No, Alex, get off, wake up," she muttered quickly, shaking him.

When Alex's eyes opened and he saw his boss standing in front of him, he quickly let go of Sawyer and the couple skirted apart like a pair of teenagers caught in the act.

"Can we talk?" Arizona asked.

"Yeah," Sawyer agreed quickly.

"Alone?" Arizona emphasized.

With a quick look at Sawyer, Alex rose from the couch and headed quietly back to Sawyer's bedroom. It irked Arizona somewhat, that he retreated back to her sister's room rather than leaving outright, but she said nothing.

Arizona perched on the arm of the couch and faced her sister. "I get to go first," she said.

Sawyer nodded.

"You really hurt me, Sawyer," Arizona sighed. "You lied to me about my brother, and that, I had a right to know. You lied to me about Alex, and maybe I didn't have a _right_ to that information, but I thought you would have shared that with me. I thought we had that kind of relationship. You're still the only person that Callie and I have told about trying to get pregnant, and that was a huge act of trust on our part. And it really hurts me that that trust isn't going both ways." She sighed again. "For Timothy, I think you owe me an apology, because you had no right to keep that kind of information from me. As for Alex… You don't owe me anything. It's your life and you can do what you want with it."

"Arizona," Sawyer had started crying. "No… I have… so much to apologize for. I don't even know where to start."

Arizona simply blinked and stared her down.

"I should have told you about Alex. We do have that kind of relationship. Or at least we did, and I want us to have that."

"Then why didn't you?" Arizona asked plainly.

"I didn't want to tell you about it when it was just sex," Sawyer sighed. "I didn't think you'd be thrilled that I was having casual sex with your fellow, and he was kind of terrified of what you'd do to him if you found out, so… when I thought it was just going to be an occasional thing… I didn't tell you. And then… it somehow became more than just sex. But it happened so slowly that I didn't realize it right away. And then I'd been lying to you and I knew that that would hurt you so I just… pushed it back. I figured I'd find a way to tell you eventually. I was so stupid. I'm so sorry. I'm so so so sorry."

Arizona bit her lip. "And Timothy?" she prompted.

"I realized that it was Timothy when I saw the scar in his birthmark and he told me the story about his _scrambled egg_," Sawyer continued. "I confronted him, and he did admit it to me. And I wanted to tell you. I swear it was the first thing I thought of. But I was afraid of what might happen. Tim said… he said it could be dangerous. That you could end up in a lot of serious trouble if anyone ever found out that you knew about him. And he said that whether his knee gets fixed or not, once he's done here in Seattle, we'd never see him again. And he said that it would be kinder to not put you through that."

"That wasn't your decision to make," Arizona countered harshly.

"I know," Sawyer agreed, wiping at her tears. "I thought… I thought I was protecting you. And your family. I thought I was doing the right thing." She ran her fingers through her hair. "I want you to be able to trust me again. I know I've done enough stupid things that you have every right to just hate me - "

"I don't hate you," Arizona interrupted softly. "I love you, Sawyer. That's why this hurts so much."

Sawyer nodded. "I know. I love you too. I'm so so sorry."

Arizona rose from the couch. "Trust is going to take time, Sawyer. I don't know…" she trailed off.

Sawyer nodded.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Arizona sighed, quietly leaving the apartment.

**So. Sawyer has _finally_ apologized. But is it enough? Words are just words really. And her actions speak a whole lot louder. Any thoughts on what she needs to _do_ to prove how sorry she is?**

**Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated :)**


	18. Chapter 18

Two days after her talk with Sawyer, Arizona still wasn't sure if she was in a forgiving mood. Part of her wanted to be forgiving. Part of her wanted things to go back to the way that they were between her and her sister before this whole mess started. But part of her was still angry, and that part was committed to punishing Sawyer for a little bit longer.

"Hello?" Callie called.

Arizona was brought back from her thoughts, looking up to see her wife standing before her.

"Hey," Arizona greeted.

Callie smirked. "Where were you?"

"Just thinking," Arizona sighed. "What are you doing in PEDS?"

"I'm on my way to check on Sawyer in the lab," Callie supplied. "Thought I'd swing by to visit my favourite wife first though."

Arizona smiled at that. "I'll go see if I can find her," she quipped.

Callie laughed.

"Sawyer's in the lab again today?" Arizona asked.

Callie nodded.

Arizona raised an eyebrow. "Has she left in the past few days?"

"Not really," Callie acknowledged.

"Are you punishing her for me?" Arizona asked.

"Maybe," Callie shrugged. "Stuff needs to get done before the first trial procedure."

"Hmmm," Arizona replied. Maybe she should start thinking about forgiving Sawyer. It seemed like she was getting plenty of punishment.

"Robbins!"

Arizona turned to see Alex Karev storming towards her. He'd pretty much been avoiding her since she'd walked in him and Sawyer a week ago. (Which was a rather impressive feat given that she was his boss.)

"What is it, Karev?" Arizona asked.

"Look, I get that you're pissed at me but this is ridiculous," Alex raved, coming to stand in front of the couple. "I haven't set foot in an OR in a week!"

"Karev, you called my wife a whore the other day," Arizona said plainly, referencing Alex's quip about Callie at their awkward lunch. "People who do that don't get surgeries."

"Jeez, that again?" Alex asked. "Your sister already chewed me out for bad-mouthing Torres."

Arizona raised an eyebrow.

"Look, I'm sorry, okay?" Alex conceded. "Sloan called me a whore first."

"Then you should have called Mark a whore. _That_ would have been completely warranted," Arizona replied.

"Yeah but Sloan hadn't slept with as many people at the table…" Alex started.

Callie and Arizona both shot him a look.

"I mean, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. You're not a whore," Alex quickly backtracked.

"Heartfelt," Arizona replied sarcastically, turning away from her fellow.

"No, look," Alex called, pulling her attention back to him. "I didn't say anything. I haven't operated all week and I didn't say anything because I figured you had a right to be mad. But I just checked the surgical schedule for the entire _month_ and I have _no_ scheduled procedures."

"What's your point?" Arizona replied.

"I'm an attending!" Alex cried. "I'm _your_ surgical fellow. You can't keep me out of the OR indefinitely. So just… how long? How long until I can operate again?"

"How long are you planning on sleeping with my sister?" Arizona asked flippantly.

"I'm not just sleeping with her," Alex countered. "I l- I like her okay? She's sweet and easy to talk to and she's funny - "

"Oh my god," Callie interrupted. "You're in love with her."

"You're what?" Arizona cried.

"No I'm not," Alex shot back quickly, schooling his features from the smile that had come over them when he spoke about Sawyer into a harsh frown. "I like her. She's hot and she's low maintenance. She's not clingy. I like that in a chick."

"Oh my god, you _are_ in love with her," Arizona breathed.

"I am not," Alex spat. "Look. Just page me when you've decided that I can get back in the OR." He quickly made his way away from the couple, practically running down the hall.

"Holy crap," Callie stated as they watched Alex walk away.

Arizona shook her head. "I thought it'd be a phase. It's Karev. Nobody gets serious with Karev." If she was completely and brutally honest with herself, part of the reason Arizona had been intent on punishing Sawyer was that she was hoping if she held out long enough, Sawyer might just end her fling. But maybe it wasn't a fling.

"Nobody got serious with Mark until Lexie came along," Callie offered.

Arizona shot her a look.

"Or something more helpful," Callie added quickly.

Arizona sighed. "Just keep an eye out. Make sure Karev doesn't jump in on some surgery that isn't PEDS."

"Can do," Callie nodded.

**XXXXXXXX**

"Do you want to go to Joe's?" Arizona asked.

Callie looked up from her seat on the bench as she did up the zipper to her boot. They were in the attending's lounge, changing to go home. Sofia was with Mark that night.

"Umm," Callie's hand went to her stomach.

"No, I know you can't drink," Arizona amended quickly. "But I need to have a … different conversation with Sawyer. And I'd rather you be there."

"Oh," Callie replied. "Yeah, sure. We can go to Joe's."

"Thank you," Arizona smiled.

Callie kissed her cheek and took her hand. "Let's go."

Entering Joe's, Callie and Arizona spotted Alex and Sawyer sitting beside each other in a booth. Callie led the way, sliding into the booth across from Alex. Arizona sat down across from Sawyer.

"Karev, go get me a drink," Callie ordered.

"Me too," Arizona added.

Alex gave them a confused look.

"White wine," Sawyer supplied, pointing at Arizona. "And club soda," she pointed at Callie.

"You want something too?" Alex asked.

Sawyer chuckled. "Oh, I think I might need another."

Alex nodded and crawled over top of Sawyer to free himself from the booth, making his way to the bar.

"Why Alex?" Arizona asked, the minute he was out of earshot. So far she'd been so focused on the lying, and the fact that Sawyer was dating a man-whore who wasn't good enough for her, that Arizona hadn't stopped to consider what had caused the couple to get together in the first place.

"Why?" Sawyer repeated.

"You're great, Sawyer. You're a catch. You could have any guy. So why are you dating him?" Arizona clarified.

Sawyer looked Arizona in the eye for a moment. "Because he gets me."

"He gets you?" Callie asked.

"The first time that I had an inkling that Alex and I might become more than sex… Do you remember Tyson Sambury?" Sawyer asked Arizona.

Arizona nodded. "10 year old boy came in about a month and a half ago with severe abdominal trauma. The shape of the bruising suggested he'd been kicked repeatedly in the stomach. We suspected the dad but his mother swore up and down that he'd fallen down the stairs," Arizona supplied for Callie.

"Alex and I handled that case," Sawyer continued. "And I never talk about what happened to me. What my stepfather did. Because I don't like to remember. But when you have a case like that… It's hard to make yourself forget. And if I talk to you guys or Lexie about it. You're sympathetic. You feel bad for me. But Alex empathizes. He doesn't just feel bad for me, he understands. He grew up in a house full of alcohol and violence too." Sawyer swirled the ice cubes in her empty glass. "After Tyson, we slept together because we were both upset. But then we talked. And _that_ was what actually made me feel better." She set her glass down. "And it's not just the violent childhoods. He's had nothing handed to him. He's worked just as hard as I have to remove himself from that world. To make a better life for himself. We have that same focus, and drive and sense of purpose. So… he gets me. With Alex, I can just be. I feel safe and comfortable and happy with him."

The trio sat in silence for a moment before Alex reappeared with their drinks, sliding into the booth to pass them out. Once they were distributed he looked to Sawyer. "Should I go?"

Sawyer caught his jeans as he began to slide back out of the booth. "No stay," she ordered softly. "Arizona, I get that you wanted me to share," Sawyer sighed. "I'm so sorry that I didn't and that it hurt you. I get that the trust thing is going to take time. But please, don't hate the idea of Alex and I. I really want you to be able to be happy for me."

Arizona stared at her for a moment. "Kay," she replied softly.

"What?" Sawyer asked.

"I'll try," Arizona nodded.

"So," Alex hedged after a somewhat awkward silence fell over the group. He turned to Callie. "You excited for the first trial procedure? You've got less than a week to go now. Sawyer's barely left the lab in the past few days." The awkward tension climbed. Alex's gaze travelled from Arizona to Callie to Sawyer, who bit her lip and subtly shook her head. "Oh," Alex said, taking a long swig of his beer.

"Mmm," Sawyer chimed after another pause. "I forgot to tell you. Sofia asked me if I could buy her a puppy the other day."

"Oh yeah, she's back on the puppy track." Callie smiled. "Hopefully it'll fizzle out in a week or so."

"You think?" Sawyer asked. "If she holds out 'til the end of the month it'll be her birthday."

"Every couple months she goes through a phase where she wants a puppy," Arizona replied.

"It started when she was around 13 months old," Callie supplied. "Every time she saw a dog in a book or on TV she'd point and say _Mine_..."

**XXXXXXXX  
**

The conversation at the bar hadn't lasted much longer after that. They'd stuck to safe topics like Sofia, or harmless hospital gossip until Arizona finished her glass of wine and she and Callie excused themselves to go home.

Walking hand in hand on the way back to the apartment, Callie turned to Arizona. "So we're trying to get behind this relationship?"

Arizona sighed. "You know, I don't hate Alex. He's a good doctor. I've always thought his heart was in the right place. And I've been his teacher but I think there were times when we've almost been friends."

Callie smiled at that.

"I always thought I'd be happy for him if he ever found someone. I just never thought that that someone would be Sawyer."

"I don't think anyone really saw that coming," Callie acknowledged.

"I'd noticed that he seemed happier," Arizona continued. "He's always been pretty good with the kids, but the past two months or so, he's been better with parents too. Had more patience. He was being nicer to the interns and the nurses too. I thought I was finally rubbing off on him."

"Well apparently what it takes to make Alex nice, you could never give him," Callie surmised.

Arizona looked confused.

"Sex," Callie clarified.

"Calliope!" Arizona smacked her arm.

Callie laughed.

"But the transition from man-whore to monogamist isn't always easy," Arizona continued. "I don't want Sawyer to be his experiment."

"I don't want that either," Callie agreed. "But if Mark Sloan can make that transition, I think just about anyone can."

Arizona chuckled. "I don't know if it's that simple."

"No, probably not," Callie laughed. "But he does seem to genuinely care about her. And from what I understand, love can go a long way in influencing monogamy."

Arizona sighed. "I really hope you're right.

**XXXXXXXX**

Two days after the group had drinks at Joe's, Owen breezed through PEDS at a run on his way to the ER. "Robbins," he called. "I need someone in OR 2, stat. We've got a 5 year old boy roughly 6 minutes out. They think his appendix burst during the ambulance ride. We're sending him straight down."

Arizona paused her charting and put down her pen. She had a spinal surgery with Callie and Derek Shepherd in half an hour. She sighed. "Karev," she called to the passing fellow.

"Yeah," Alex asked over his shoulder.

"OR 2. Ruptured appendix is en route."

"On it, boss," Alex answered quickly, changing course.

Arizona caught him by the sleeve of his lab coat to stop him. "Alex, if you hurt her, I'll hurt you," she leveled flatly.

Alex stared back at her. "If I hurt her, I'll hurt me," he replied sincerely.

Arizona let go of his coat. "Right answer."

**XXXXXXXX**

The rest of the week passed slowly. Arizona was content to give Alex the baby surgeries that came in, (and after a week without cutting, Alex would take whatever he could get) while Arizona was keeping the marathon surgeries for herself. She'd had nothing shorter than an 8 hour surgery lined up every day for the past 4 days, and it was starting to worry Callie. Yes, Arizona was the head of her department, and yes, she was a superstar with a scalpel, but Callie was afraid that she was pushing herself too hard. Arizona might be driven, but as long as Callie had known her, she'd never been one of those scalpel hungry surgeons. She was confident enough in her abilities that she didn't mind sometimes taking a back seat.

When Arizona arrived home that night, it was almost 10. Sofia was in bed long ago, and Callie was reading in bed, waiting for her wife to arrive home. Pushing open the door to the bedroom, Arizona took two steps and flopped down on the foot of the bed.

"Tired?" Callie asked.

"Yes," Arizona replied, her voice muffled into the mattress.

"What did you have today?" Callie asked.

"Combined atresia microtia repair," Arizona replied, flipping from her stomach to her side so that she could face her wife.

"That's what?" Callie asked. "A ten hour surgery?"

"Nine," Arizona yawned.

"And you had an STA-MCA bypass yesterday right?" Callie continued. "Which was an eight hour surgery. And the day before that you had a whipple that lasted ten."

Arizona furrowed her brow. "Are you upset with me?"

Callie set down her book. "No, Arizona," she sighed. "I'm not upset, I'm concerned. You're working yourself too hard."

"Oh, Callie, I'm fine," Arizona shrugged, sliding off of the bed so that she could change.

"Those are insanely long hours," Callie pressed.

"We work hours way longer than that all the time," Arizona argued.

"We work _shifts_ longer than that," Callie countered. "But when you're in surgery you have to stay focused the entire time. On a shift you can take a break. Grab a coffee or some food, do some mindless paperwork, head to an on-call room for a nap or some other form of stress relief."

Arizona rolled her eyes. "Is that what this is about? The fact that we haven't had sex at the hospital for a few days?"

"We haven't had sex at all," Callie pointed, "because when you get home from those major procedures you're too tired. But no, that's not the point."

"Then what is the point?" Arizona asked as she crawled into bed.

"The point is that I know what tomorrow is too," Callie offered softly.

Arizona tensed.

"I mean, I kinda have to know," Callie continued. "It's my procedure."

Arizona met her wife's gaze. "I know," she whispered. "I know it's your first trial procedure tomorrow and I know you must be nervous and I know I should be supportive but…"

Callie tugged Arizona towards her. "Is that why you've had all these huge procedures lined up? To keep your mind off of Timothy?" The long hours had started the day after Arizona let Alex back into the OR. Callie suspected that once her wife no longer had Sawyer and Alex's relationship to obsess over, she'd needed a new distraction, namely, her work.

"Maybe," Arizona sighed. "You're gonna fix him tomorrow and then I'll never see him again."

"Not quite," Callie pointed out. "I'll need to monitor him post-op for a few days, so he'll be in the hospital."

"And then he'll leave," Arizona pressed.

"Do you want to see him tomorrow?" Callie asked. "Before the procedure? I can go with you if you'd like."

Arizona shook her head. "I don't want to. I…" her voice trailed off.

"Okay," Callie agreed softly. "Hey," she added, tugging on Arizona's pant leg to get her attention again. "You know what else tomorrow is?"

Arizona raised her brow.

"It's the 19th," Callie smiled. "Which means the next day - "

"Is the 20th," Arizona finished for her, a smile breaking onto her lips.

"And we can finally run the pregnancy test," Callie grinned, leaning over to switch off the light. Perhaps the only good thing about all of the drama in their lives over the past two weeks was that neither woman had been obsessing about whether or not Callie was pregnant.

"I love you," Arizona smiled sleepily as she snuggled close to Callie.

"Love you too," Callie agreed, letting her fingers slip lazily through her wife's hair.

Arizona fell asleep almost instantly, but Callie lay awake for a while longer, thinking. She wanted to be pregnant. So bad. And not just because she wanted another baby. But because if Arizona lost her brother _and_ a baby in less than a week, Callie just wasn't sure if her wife could take that. She hugged Arizona's sleeping form closer, and made a promise to herself and her wife, that whatever happened, she would be there.

**So. Continuing with my juggling metaphor, it's safe to say that I've caught the Sawyer and Alex ball with that chapter. That leaves the next section to focus on juggling the Tim ball, and the baby ball. But please, picture me juggling those one handed, because that's so much cooler than juggling 2 balls with 2 hands.**

**Review away folks!**


	19. Chapter 19

**This update was slow. I know. I'm so terribly terribly sorry. I tried to make it a little on the long side to make up for it though. It has undergone a slightly less extensive editing process than usual, so any typos or mistakes I apologize for. And speaking of mistakes, we do have some medical stuff going on in this chapter. For a theoretical trial procedure that doesn't exist so I had to make it up somewhat. If something I've written is medically inaccurate, I apologize and I hope it doesn't affect you r reading of the story too much.**

Arriving at the hospital the next morning, Callie and Arizona dropped Sofia off at daycare, and parted ways after changing in the attending's lounge. Arizona hurried off to the PEDS wing to busy her mind with anything other than her brother and Callie's first trial procedure, while Callie headed in the opposite direction to prepare herself.

Sitting at her desk in her office, Callie perused her trial notes for the umpteenth time, not so much reading her handwriting as reciting it from memory. She looked up when a knock sounded at the door.

"Hey," Sawyer greeted, closing the door behind her. Callie took in her appearance. Arizona might have been working herself too hard these past few days, but Callie wasn't actually sure when Sawyer had last left the hospital. Callie had had her running trials in the lab pretty much non-stop for the past week. She looked exhausted.

"How did it go last night?" Callie asked, flipping her folder shut.

"Pretty good," Sawyer nodded.

"How many did you run?" Callie asked.

"40," Sawyer yawned. "And I had a positive result in 36."

Callie smiled. That was good. "Did you sleep last night?"

"A little," Sawyer shrugged.

"In the on-call room or did you just pass out in the lab?"

"Um… the lab," Sawyer admitted sheepishly.

"Okay, we've got…" Callie glanced at the clock on her computer screen. "2 hours until I need you for pre-op. Go sleep."

"Thanks," Sawyer nodded, running a hand through her hair.

"You'll be in PEDS?" Callie asked, knowing Sawyer's sleeping preference.

"Unless you want me somewhere else," Sawyer nodded.

"PEDS is fine," Callie nodded, re-opening her trial folder.

**XXXXXXXX**

Two hours later, Callie made her way to PEDS to retrieve her resident. Yes, she could have paged her. But even on a day like today, Callie rarely passed up an excuse to go to PEDS.

She ran into her wife as Arizona was exiting a patient's room.

"What brings you here?" Arizona smiled.

"I sent Sawyer here to sleep before pre-op," Callie explained.

Arizona nodded. "Knock first. I haven't seen Karev in a while."

Callie laughed. Sawyer had looked like she could have passed out when she'd entered her office that morning. Callie doubted very much that the resident had used these hours for anything other than sleep. But she didn't say anything. Because Arizona making jokes about Sawyer and Karev's sex life was a pretty big step on the road to accepting the couple, and Callie didn't want to mess with that.

"Noted," Callie grinned.

"So, you're starting your pre-op?" Arizona asked quietly.

Callie nodded.

Arizona sighed. "You're gonna be great, babe."

Callie pulled Arizona away from the window of her patient's room and backed her against the wall, placing a firm kiss on her lips. "Thank you," she breathed.

Arizona gave her a soft smile before disentangling herself from her wife. "I have patients," she sighed.

"Kay," Callie nodded, watching her wife make her way down the hall.

**XXXXXXXX**

Callie had been right about Sawyer needing those hours to sleep. From the times she had slept at their apartment, Callie would describe Sawyer as a light sleeper. But she'd literally had to shake her sister-in-law to wake her. But those two hours seemed to have done the resident some good. She seemed alert and ready. Which was exactly what Callie needed in her assistant.

The pre-op went smoothly enough. Tim was far more quiet and subdued than usual. But they were all acutely aware of how important today was. So chitchat was minimal. Before Callie knew it, an hour had passed, and they'd completed the pre-op checklist. It was go time.

Wheeling Timothy down the hall, Callie and Sawyer came to a stop when a voice called out behind them. "Hey, wait up!"

Arizona jogged up beside them, coming to a stop beside Sawyer. She looked at her brother. "I just…" she paused. "Good luck."

Tim nodded. "Thanks," he said.

Arizona stared at Tim for a moment longer before nodding in return. She smiled at Callie before popping out the wheels on her sneakers and pushing off down the hall.

**XXXXXXXX**

After the procedure, Callie and Arizona didn't run into each other until they were leaving for the night. After changing out of their scrubs, they made their way, side by side, to the daycare.

"So how'd it go today?" Arizona asked tentatively.

Callie shrugged. "Good, I hope. I won't really know until tomorrow."

Arizona nodded. "I'm sorry I wasn't more… supportive. I - "

"You were great," Callie cut her off. She reached over and took Arizona's hand, giving it a squeeze. "You were perfect."

Arizona smiled at her. "I bet you were too."

**XXXXXXXX**

The next morning, Callie was awoken by a series of gentle kisses making their way from her neck to her lips.

"Good morning," Arizona smiled. "Happy pregnancy test day."

Callie grinned and pulled Arizona in for another kiss. "Morning," she smiled.

Arizona propped herself up on her elbow.

"Can I just ask for one thing?" Callie asked.

"Sure," Arizona replied, raising her brow.

"Can I not pee on a stick?" Callie continued. "Because we both know that whether it says negative or positive, neither one of us will believe the results until we get a blood test. So can we just jump right to the blood test?"

Arizona chuckled. "That can be arranged."

At the hospital, Arizona drew a blood sample from her wife. Together, they dropped it off at the lab for rush testing, and were told they'd have it back in a couple of hours.

"A couple hours," Arizona repeated.

Callie smiled. "I have to go check on Timothy."

Arizona's face fell a little, but she nodded.

"I'll see you in a couple hours," Callie added as she made her way down the hall.

**XXXXXXXX**

Entering Tim's room, Callie found Sawyer already setting up the ultrasound.

"How does it feel?" Callie asked, performing a cursory inspection of the joint.

"I can't really feel it," Tim admitted.

Sawyer passed Callie the ultrasound wand. "Well this will let us know for sure," she smiled.

Applying cold gel to Tim's leg, Callie grazed the wand over Tim's knee and watched as the image appeared on the screen. Manipulating it around to view the joint from different angles, a slow smile crept onto Callie's face.

A grin broke out on Sawyer's.

"So?" Tim asked.

Callie blew out a puff of air. "It worked," she smiled. "The trial was a failure."

_1 WEEK AGO…_

_The doors burst open and Arizona emerged from the room, her face streaked with tears. Catching sight of Callie and Sawyer standing together, Arizona shot a look at her sister before making her way to her wife._

_Sawyer quickly ducked back into the gym to give the couple their privacy as Callie opened her arms to Arizona._

"_Hey," Callie greeted softly, her thumbs wiping at Arizona's tears._

"_Hi," Arizona hiccupped. She glanced behind her. "Do you need to go in there?"_

"_I have a minute," Callie answered easily._

"_Kay," Arizona replied, letting her forehead rest against Callie's shoulder._

"_Do you want to talk?" Callie asked._

_Arizona shook her head. "Not… not yet. I need to clear my head and just… I need to work."_

"_Okay," Callie agreed. "Later?"_

_Arizona nodded. "Later." And with a quick kiss, she made her way down the hall._

_Callie watched her go. It hurt her so much to see Arizona hurting like this. Now more resolved than ever, Callie pushed open the door to the gym._

"_Is she okay?" Sawyer asked._

_Callie shook her head. "No. No she's not."_

_Tim sighed. "I'm sorry. I wish there was something that I could do."_

"_I think there is," Callie countered. "You could stay. You could not abandon her again."_

"_You know I can't do that," Tim replied. "I'm part of a highly classified operation. I - "_

"_Oh, cut the crap, Tim," Callie cut him off. "You were able to come to Seattle, to participate in a trial that I'm running. If you were as _classified_ and _important_ as you keep saying, they'd never have let you do that."_

"_I - " Tim started._

"_You used to be classified, right?" Sawyer offered. "When they faked your death, you were a big deal. You were _killed_ in January of 2003, right before the war in Iraq started. And I'm sure you were invaluable to those war efforts. But the war in Iraq is over, really. And especially with you injured, I doubt they've had much use for you in the past year."_

_Later, Callie and Sawyer would find that they'd both come to this conclusion around the same time. Callie by using inductive reasoning and Sawyer by reading Tim's body language._

"_You want your _death_ to matter, I get that," Sawyer continued. "But you've been lying about how important you are today."_

"_So you could stay," Callie repeated._

"_I would have to be discharged," Tim countered. "I'd have to call in about a million favours and probably break a few laws. I've thought about it. Of course I've thought about it, but as far as I can see, there's no way for it to work unless Mitchell Baron gets discharged."_

"_So get discharged," Callie ordered._

"_Baron can't be discharged for another 4 years," Tim sighed. "Not without a medical cause."_

"_But you have a medical cause," Callie pointed to his knee._

"_I'm in a groundbreaking trial to fix that," Tim argued._

"_So I'll have you disqualified from the trial," Callie stated._

_Tim shook his head. "No. I wasn't exaggerating about the dangerous part. If I was to leave this life, it would have to be done _so so_ quietly. Kicking me off of the trial would be very noisy." _

"_What if something went wrong with the trial?" Callie asked after a pause._

"_Callie…" Sawyer started._

"_No, Sawyer, I don't care about the trial," Callie argued. "I care about my wife."_

_Tim thought for a moment. "That… might work."_

"_So you're just going to… mess up your trial?" Sawyer asked._

_Callie shook her head. "I don't think I can. Not with what happened with Derek and Meredith and the Alzheimer's trial a few years ago. The hospital would be blacklisted completely from all FDA trials. It has to be… more subtle than that."_

"_So it has to actually not work," Sawyer concluded._

_Callie nodded._

"_Um… I hate to be negative here, but doesn't it work?" Tim asked._

_Callie nodded. "It does. I worked very hard to make sure it worked."_

_Sawyer bit her lip. "What were you most worried about?"_

"_Sorry?" Callie asked._

"_When you were developing the cartilage, what were you most concerned with?" Sawyer repeated._

"_Retention," Callie answered immediately. "After my first success I found that some of my samples returned to liquid state after they came in contact with other fluids. It took me a long time to work that out."_

"_But what if you didn't work it out?" Sawyer asked. "This has never been tested on anything bigger than a pig. Nothing as large as a human knee joint. That much viscous fluid. What if it returned to liquid state?"_

"_They might test it…" Callie hemmed. "But the tests aren't as accurate as the actual measurements. What if we could find a formula to trick the sensors?"_

"_What?" Tim asked. _

"_If the trial failed," Callie explained. "If it was shown to be insufficient for humans at this point, there would be no red flags. It would just be chalked up as an approach that didn't work. That would get you discharged quietly. But if it didn't work, it would be tested by the FDA to see _what_ went wrong. If the FDA found that we'd altered the procedure to make it fail – well that would be noisy. But, the tests that the FDA uses aren't as precise as the measurements we use to actually prepare the cartilage. If we could tweak the formula so that it fails, and returns to liquid form _without_ showing up on any tests, _that_ would be enough to get you discharged. And you could take it from there."_

"_But how are you going to figure out how to alter it?" Tim asked._

_Callie paused. "The only way would be trial and error. There are 12 components to my cartilage. Altering any combination of them might be the way to make it work."_

"_12 components?" Tim repeated. "And you'd have to alter them just a little right? So that it wouldn't show on the tests?" _

_Callie nodded. "It might not be feasible. There are thousands of permutations for those chemicals."_

"_I could do it," Sawyer spoke up._

"_Sawyer, I'm talking about altering the serum, one chemical at a time, by less than 0. 05% each time," Callie stated._

"_I can do it," Sawyer argued. "I can at least try."_

_Callie turned to Tim. "You're on board with this? If we figure out a way to pull this off, you'll do your part to get discharged and come home?"_

"_I'll do everything I can," Tim nodded._

"_Okay," Callie nodded. "Let's do this."_

_**XXXXXXXX**_

_It was four days before Sawyer saw any results. If she jumped on no new cases and worked through the night, Sawyer could test around 400 samples a day. It was painfully slow work. Increasing and decreasing chemicals by percentages so small they failed to register on most standard lab equipment. _

_When she got her first positive result on Monday, Sawyer was dismayed to find that the sodium levels would be picked up as inconsistent by standard FDA testing. And so, it was back to the drawing board._

_Tuesday, however, Sawyer finally managed her feat, 2000 trials later. She called Callie in a state of absolute exhausted excitement._

"_Hello," Callie had greeted groggily._

"_Hey," came Sawyer's breathless reply._

_Callie glanced at the clock. "Sawyer, it's 2 in the morning," she groaned. "Why are you calling - "_

"_I got it," Sawyer cut her off. "The cartilage. It's working. It turns back into liquid after 8 hours, and it shows up as normal on every test."_

_Callie sat up in bed, mindful of Arizona sleeping next to her, and grateful that her wife was a deep sleeper._

"_Are you sure?" she hissed, pulling on her robe and exiting the bedroom._

"_It's the first result," Sawyer replied. "I'll retest. But I think I've got it. It's really going to work."_

_Hanging up the phone, Callie blew out a puff of air. It was really going to work._

_Sawyer had spent the next two days testing and retesting the faulty formula she had come up with. Callie stopped by the lab to help her when she could get a free minute, and with her expertise, they'd altered the formula just a little bit more, so that their success rate reached almost 90%._

_But even so, they had been nervous before the procedure._

"_You didn't tell Arizona?" Sawyer asked when she and Callie were the only 2 left in the scrub room._

_Callie shook her head. "She'd try to talk me out of it. Plus, she's working on being okay with this. I don't want to get her hopes up if it doesn't work."_

_Sawyer nodded. "It's gonna work, Cal," she stated as she backed out of the scrub room and into the OR._

_Callie watched her go, and said a silent prayer that Sawyer was right._

**XXXXXXXX**

"The trial was a failure?" Tim repeated.

Callie nodded. "Essentially, your knee is surrounded by a sack of fluid right now. Kinda like Jell-O."

"So… what does this mean?" Tim asked. "What's the next step?"

"Well, we have to do this by the book," Callie replied. "And if this had happened naturally, we would be testing it like crazy to see what went wrong. So Sawyer's gonna run some tests. But those will ultimately show that if we leave your knee like that, it will do more harm than good. And you're going to need a knee replacement. Probably tomorrow or the next day."

"Okay," Tim nodded.

"How long will it take you to get discharged after that?" Callie asked.

"A month or two," Tim supplied. "If everything goes to plan. And then I'll have to start calling in favours. Not sure how long that'll take."

"Okay, well then we better get started," Callie replied. "Sawyer, can you start collecting the samples?"

Sawyer nodded.

"Page me when you have results," Callie added, leaving the room.

"Torres!"

Callie turned to see Owen coming down the hall towards her.

"I was just coming to see you and your trial patient. How's it looking?" Owen asked.

Callie schooled her features. "Not well. I… I don't think it worked."

Owen's face fell. "Are you sure?"

"Based on the ultrasound it looks like the artificial cartilage has reverted back into liquid form," Callie supplied. "I'm having Logan run tests."

"I'm sorry, Torres," Owen offered sincerely. "Keep me posted. I'll… I'll notify the military for you."

"Thanks," Callie nodded, parting ways with Owen and doing her best to look contrite.

A few hours later Callie and Sawyer were gathered in Callie's office, going over the plethora of tests Sawyer had ordered for Tim. Every one had come back with the exact result they had suspected.

"Book us an OR," Callie said. "We're doing a knee replacement."

"On it," Sawyer grinned.

As Sawyer left, Callie's phone chirped with a text from her wife.

_Tests are in_

Callie's hand migrated to her stomach. She gathered Tim's test results, and set out to meet her wife.

**Okay! **

**So I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I have a major exam on Friday. So I know I won't be writing anything before then.**

**On the bright side, my next exam after that isn't until the 29****th****, so I should be able to put out a couple of chapters with decent speed.**

**Until next time then, leave me a review :)**


	20. Chapter 20

**Okay. So I know I said it would be a week. And this has been a **_**lot**_** closer to two weeks. I'm really sorry about that, guys. After I finished with my crazy insane week of all school and nothing else, I of course, got sick. I should have known it would happen. That's always the way. But anyways, the antibiotics are a-workin' so I finally feel up to writing again. Yay.**

Callie met Arizona in her wife's office, it being the bigger of the two given that she was the head of her department. And it had a couch. Which was good for intimate moments such as the one they were about to have. As Callie pushed open the door, Arizona greeted her with a tight, nervous smile, a sealed manila envelope clutched tightly in her hand. Callie returned the smile, and extended her hand. When Arizona grasped it, she led her wife to the couch, where they settled comfortably beside each other.

Arizona bit her lip. "So how do you want to do this? Just, slide out the papers and we'll read it together or…"

"Just wait a second," Callie said calmly. She didn't want to look at those results without telling Arizona her secret. What she'd done for her with the trial. Because if they opened that envelope and it said _pregnant_ she did not want to remember this moment as one when she was hiding something from her wife. Regardless of her intentions. She wanted it to be perfect. She reached over and took the envelope from Arizona and set it down beside her.

"Tim needs a knee replacement," Callie said slowly.

Arizona's eyes snapped away from the envelope she'd been watching to meet Callie's eyes. "What?"

"I just had Sawyer schedule the OR," Callie continued. "I'm doing a full knee replacement tomorrow."

"But, you just fixed his knee," Arizona countered, confused.

"No I didn't," Callie replied. "The cartilage reverted back to liquid form. His procedure was a failure."

"Oh, Callie," Arizona breathed. "I'm so sorry. I…" she reached up to cup her wife's cheek.

Callie placed her hand over Arizona's on her cheek. "He's going to get discharged, and he's going to do everything he can to stay a part of our lives," she continued.

"He… what?" Arizona asked slowly, pulling her hand away.

Callie caught her retreating hand and clasped it between her own hands, pulling it into her lap. "We altered the cartilage," Callie explained. "So that it wouldn't work. So he can get a knee replacement, get discharged, and then figure something out so that he doesn't have to disappear."

Arizona shook her head. "Callie, no. I can't let you do that."

"It's done," Callie smiled.

"No," Arizona countered again. "Tell them you made a mistake. Tell them something was off and you know how to fix it."

"The formula that works," Callie explained, "the one that was tested by me, the military and the FDA, is the formula that's on all of Tim's records. According to records, that is the cartilage we put in his knee and that it the cartilage that failed. Sawyer's been living in the lab so that she could come up with a formula that would register as the one we're supposed to be using on all tests, but would actually fail. I can't _fix_ the formula because it's not broken. Even though the tests say it is. We had to make it look like the cartilage really didn't work. If there were unexplained irregularities the military might investigate and we could all be in a lot of trouble."

"Why would you do that?" Arizona asked, dismayed. "Callie, all of the people this medicine could help…"

"I sent the formula to my friend John," Callie replied. "He's an orthopedic surgeon at Princeton. It'll take a few more years, but eventually the cartilage will get pushed through again. Our failure will be written off as human error, and the cartilage will be available to help people."

"But it's _your_ cartilage," Arizona argued. "You worked so so hard on it Callie. It's yours. You deserve the credit."

Callie shrugged.

"No, Callie, this is your career," Arizona stated.

"And this is my family," Callie countered. "I have never, and will never choose my career over my family. I have watched you miss Timothy the entire time I've known you. I've seen how much you hurt on his birthday, or on the anniversary of his death. And I've wished again and again that I could bring him back to you. Thought that there was nothing I wouldn't do to give you him back. So when I literally had an opportunity to give him back to you, of course I did it. Of course I'd trade my trial for your brother."

Arizona cupped Callie's face in her hands and pulled her towards her. Kissing her. Hard. Resting her forehead against Callie's, Arizona whispered, "I don't know what to say."

Callie smiled. "You don't have to say anything," she mused, her finger's slipping through Arizona's hair. "It's not going to happen overnight," she continued. "Mitchell Baron has to be discharged from the Marines, and that'll take a few months. Then he'll have to disappear and call in a lot of favours to create a life for himself out of the service. One that we can be a part of. But he's completely on board with the plan, and he seems committed to doing whatever it takes to stay in your life."

"Thank you," Arizona breathed. She pulled back and shook her head. "That's not… big enough. Thank you, it doesn't… I mean so much more than thank you. I just. I love you. So so much. You're incredible and perfect and I don't deserve you and…"

"Don't say that," Callie said, reaching forward to wipe at the slow tears that had started running down Arizona's cheeks. "We deserve each other. I love you, more than anything. There's nothing I wouldn't do for you. You don't have to thank me."

Arizona reached out and wrapped her arms around her wife. Callie pulled her close and rested her chin on top of Arizona's head. They stayed curled together for a while before Arizona's gaze fell on the manila envelope lying beside Callie on the couch. She reached for it and sat up, handing it to Callie.

"Oh yeah," Callie said, staring at the envelope in her hand.

Arizona chuckled nervously, her hands shaking.

"Don't be nervous," Callie smiled, reaching forward to brush Arizona's bangs out of her face. "If we're not pregnant, we'll just try again, okay? We're not in any rush."

Arizona smiled, and took Callie's hand, giving it a squeeze. "Stop being so perfect," she joked.

"Can't help it, babe," Callie grinned. "That's just how I am."

"I know," Arizona smiled softly.

Callie slid her finger under the sealed tab of the envelope, ripping it open. She put her hand inside and completely drew out the single sheet of paper. Two sets of eyes darted to the bottom and stared for a moment before Callie set the papers on the table in front of them. She turned to her wife.

Arizona wiped at falling tears. "We're having a baby," she said quietly.

Callie's hand dropped to her stomach. "We're having a baby," she repeated, her voice much higher than normal.

Arizona barked out a laugh through her tears and Callie lunged towards her, kissing her. Arizona's hands found Callie's stomach and they slid against it, reverently. Breaking the kiss to breath, Callie watched as Arizona slid down her body, pushing up her scrub top to place a kiss against the bare skin of her stomach.

"Hi, baby," Arizona said, her lips brushing against the smooth skin of Callie's abdomen as she spoke. A grin broke out on Callie's face as her hand migrated to Arizona's hair. "I'm your Momma," Arizona continued. "We'll get to meet in about 38 weeks, but we can talk like this until then, okay? I know 38 weeks sounds like a long time, but your sister came out waayyy too early so your Mami and I would really like you to wait it out in there. But I know you will. You'll be a good little bug, and not give Mami morning sickness, or afternoon sickness, or nighttime sickness. You won't give her any weird cravings so Momma doesn't have to go hunt down deep-fried pickles at 1 in the morning. You can give her those crazy sex hormones that she got last time though. Momma likes those."

Callie laughed and tugged on Arizona gently.

"I gotta go," Arizona smiled. "Your Mami wants me. We'll talk again later."

"I love you," Callie grinned as Arizona climbed back up her body to lay a kiss on her lips.

"I love you too," Arizona beamed.

They slipped back so they were lying out together on the couch. It was a little squishy, but neither minded. They lay together for a while, Callie tucked underneath Arizona's arm as the blonde drew random patterns on Callie's stomach.

"I want to wait," Callie announced, breaking the quiet that had fallen over them.

"Hmm?" Arizona asked.

"To tell anyone," Callie clarified. "Your sister'll probably figure it out. When she sees I'm still not drinking and we ask her to watch Sofia when we're at doctor's appointments and stuff. And that's fine. But can we wait until the end of the first trimester to tell anyone? I mean, no telling Mark, no telling our parents. Can it just be ours? For a little while?"

Arizona grinned. "Absolutely."

"And we should get a house," Callie continued, grin plastered on her face.

"Wow," Arizona replied. "Someone's full of ideas."

"Full of plans," Callie corrected her. "We can't stay at the apartment, there are only two bedrooms and I think sticking Sofia and an infant in the same room is just a recipe for disaster."

Arizona laughed, imagining.

"And we could just get a bigger apartment," Callie continued, "but I want them to have a backyard to play in, with a swing set. Where the dog that you know we're going to have to get Sofia eventually can run around. And I want a porch. A big porch, that we can sit on and watch thunderstorms with them."

Arizona smiled at all the beautiful images Callie was painting. She wanted that too. All of it.

"And we should do it sooner rather than later," Callie added. "Because when I'm as big as a house I won't be much help with the moving process and I'd really like to be somewhat settled in before the baby comes. I'm not eager to experience moving with a three year old _and_ a newborn."

"So we're buying a house," Arizona said softly.

Callie smiled and nodded. "We're buying a house."

Arizona leaned in and kissed her. "I'll call a real estate agent. We can start looking right away."

**XXXXXXXX**

After an hour of basking in their happiness, Callie reluctantly left Arizona's office**. **Theywere both still on shift, and they did have actual work to do.

As Callie worked through her cases for the day, several attendings stopped her to offer her their condolences on the state of her trial. Word had spread about Tim's failed procedure, and so Callie did her best to look defeated when she actually felt like she was on top of the moon.

"Hey," Callie looked away from the x-ray she was examining to the door of the office where Sawyer was standing.

"Hi," Callie greeted.

"You're all set for tomorrow. OR 6 at 9:00," Sawyer informed her. "You need a resident for that?" she added.

Callie smiled and nodded. "Schedule yourself."

"Awesome! Thanks," Sawyer grinned.

Callie laughed. Sawyer had been a fan of Arizona's favourite adjective before they'd met the young resident. The nature versus nurture debate confused her. She saw the way Sofia took after Arizona and wanted to say _nature, my ass_. But then she'd come across yet another similarity between Arizona and Sawyer and wonder.

"You're in a good mood," Sawyer observed. "You told Arizona what we did?"

Callie nodded.

"And she took it well," Sawyer concluded.

"She took it very well," Callie smiled.

Sawyer smiled back. The flicker in her eye made Callie think that the resident knew that there was more to her good mood than the success of their plan, but respectfully, she said nothing.

"Do you want me to go let the patient know?" Sawyer asked.

Callie shook her head. "Could you take these to Dr. Yu for me? Tell him it's not surgical, it just needs to be set, and I'd recommend a spica cast."

Sawyer nodded and took the x-rays.

"I'll talk to Timothy," Callie added.

Making her way to Tim's room, Callie caught sight of a familiar blonde head in front of her, making a beeline for the same patient room she herself was headed to.

As she watched Arizona disappear into Tim's room, Callie hesitated for a moment, torn between wanting to give the siblings their privacy and wanting to be there to support her wife.

Pausing just outside the door, Callie could see Arizona standing at Tim's bedside, neither speaking. Finally, Arizona sighed.

"Callie told me what you did," Arizona said softly.

"Is that… Is that okay?" Tim asked. "Callie said… but maybe I should have asked you? If you want me to be a part of your life."

Arizona sighed. "You know I'm upset, Timothy. And what you did will always hurt. But I can know that you did it for the right reasons. And that you're trying to make it up to me. Of course I want you in my life." She smiled. "Besides, you have years of favours and groveling ahead of you to make it up to me. I wouldn't want to miss that," she joked.

Tim smiled. "Sure, sure, AJ."

Callie cleared her throat.

"Calliope," Arizona greeted with a smile.

"Hey," Callie smiled. "I just came to let you know that we're all set for tomorrow," Callie spoke to Tim. "9:00 tomorrow morning, I'll go in, remove the defective cartilage, and do the replacement."

She moved forward to check his IV and found that he was already receiving the cocktail she prescribed to the majority of her joint replacement patients.

As her finger traced over the bag, Tim supplied, "Oh, Dr. Logan started those after the first tests came back."

Callie smiled. Sawyer was on the ball.

"That's perfect," she smiled. "I'll see you tomorrow." She glanced at Arizona to see if her wife wanted to stay with her brother for a while longer, but the blonde waved her goodbye to Timothy and spun on her heel to follow Callie from the room, linking their fingers together as they made their way down the hall.

Callie walked Arizona back to PEDS where the couple found Alex and Sawyer talking over the counter of the nurse's station.

"Hey, Torres, sorry about your trial," Alex greeted.

"Thanks, Karev," Callie replied.

"You guys wanna come with us to Joe's tonight?" Alex asked. "Drown your sorrows? I'll buy you a drink."

Callie smiled. She appreciated the effort Alex was and had been making, to get to know Callie and Arizona outside of work. For Sawyer.

"No thanks, Karev. Not tonight," Callie answered. She glanced to Arizona, and knew that they were thinking the same thing. They would not be drowning their sorrows tonight, rather they would be celebrating. A lot of celebrating. Privately.

Sawyer caught the exchange between the couple and smirked. "Have a good night guys," she grinned, ushering Alex away.

"We're staying in tonight, right?" Callie asked.

Arizona looked at her like she was crazy. "Umm, yeah. I have a lot of thanking you to do."

Callie rolled her eyes. "I told you, you don't have to thank me."

"And celebrating," Arizona continued, ignoring her. "Naked celebrating."

Callie laughed. "Okay. I'm down."

Arizona smirked. "No no, Calliope. I'll be the one going down," she whispered, popping out the wheels on her sneakers and pushing off down the hall of her ward.

Callie watched her go and glanced at the clock on the wall. 4 more hours.

**Review away amigos!**


	21. Chapter 21

Tim's knee replacement surgery was textbook. After Sawyer suctioned away the useless cartilage, Callie proceeded with the replacement without any complications. As she worked, she thought back to the last knee replacement she'd done. Weeks ago, before she'd started on the trial, and how she'd thought she'd be making the procedure obsolete with her artificial cartilage. When Arizona had pressed her about it the night before, as they lay in bed after a round of celebrating, she'd admitted that it did sting, to lose all of her hard work. But that little sting was nothing compared to how fantastic it felt to be able to get Tim back in Arizona's life. Plus, the doctor she'd sent her research to, John, was her friend. She knew he would credit her as a collaborator when he pushed through with the cartilage. She'd still get partial credit. It wasn't quite as impressive as being the sole creator of groundbreaking medical technology, but it was better than nothing. And, as she'd assured Arizona repeatedly, so totally and completely worth it.

Tim was discharged from the hospital four days later. Arizona had steered clear of his room since their short conversation, which had surprised Callie. She felt like Arizona and Timothy had come to an understanding from the talk she'd overheard. She'd expected Arizona to want to visit him. So when she'd mentioned over breakfast that Tim was being discharged that day, and Arizona simply nodded, Callie stopped poking at her eggs, set down her fork, and turned to face her wife.

"What is it?" Callie asked.

"What's what?" Arizona replied, seeming genuinely confused.

"What's going on in your head?" Callie clarified. "About your brother? You haven't visited him, you haven't even mentioned him since Wednesday. When he leaves today, you won't see him for months. I expected you to want to make the most of this time. To want to say goodbye."

Arizona sighed. "What if it's not months?"

"Sorry?" Callie asked.

"What if he's not gone for months? What if he's gone forever?" Arizona continued. "What if he can't figure out a way to come back to us and we never see him again? What if you gave up your trial for nothing? What if -"

"Whoa, easy," Callie said, cutting Arizona off.

Arizona wiped roughly at her face. "I got used to him being gone, Callie."

"So you're afraid to get attached to him and get your hopes up?" Callie surmised. "You're afraid of losing him again?"

Arizona nodded. "It's such a horrible way to say thank you for what you did for me. Avoiding him," Arizona bit her lip. "But I'm scared."

Callie's hand slid over Arizona's. "If he doesn't come back… yeah, that'll suck," she admitted. "And I'll be more than a little annoyed that we lost the trial for nothing. But I've talked to him about this. He has plans, ideas, for how to go about setting up his new life. He's not taking this lightly." Callie paused and looked at Arizona seriously. "I really think you should come say goodbye today. Because if he doesn't come back… I think what'll hurt the most will be the fact that you had a chance to say goodbye and you didn't. That'll hurt more than losing him again."

Arizona's hand slipped against Callie's stomach as she lifted her wife's hand and kissed it. "The baby has made you wise," she smiled.

Callie laughed. "Yes, that's it. You either get morning sickness or wisdom. It's one or the other I hear." Callie had yet to have any real pregnancy symptoms, and she was hoping to keep that trend going for as long as possible.

"Don't jinx it," Arizona chided, pulling Callie in for a kiss. "Thank you," she whispered against her lips. "Can I come with you when you discharge him today?"

Callie nodded. "Of course."

Callie and Arizona entered into Tim's room to find him dressed in street clothes, and finishing with the packing of his bag. His knee was strapped into a heavy brace and he pushed himself around the room on crutches.

Callie cleared her throat.

Tim turned, somewhat awkwardly with the crutches, to face them. His eyes danced over Callie for the briefest of seconds before they fell on Arizona. "Oh… hey," Tim greeted.

"I have your discharge papers," Callie stated simply. "You just need to sign…" she gestured to him with her pen.

"Oh, right, sure," Tim replied quickly, hobbling towards her to take the pen and clipboard.

Handing the papers back to Callie, Tim paused awkwardly to look at Arizona. Taking two steps forward, the blonde wordlessly wrapped her brother in a tight hug.

Tim faltered for a second, partially from surprise and partially from the crutches, but once he'd steadied himself, he returned the embrace.

Pulling back, Arizona placed a kiss on his cheek. "I love you," she said.

"I love you too," Tim replied earnestly.

They paused a moment longer before Arizona said, "Bye."

Grabbing his bag, Tim shook his head. "Not goodbye," he corrected. "See you later."

Arizona smiled. "See you later, Timothy."

**XXXXXXXX**

Three weeks after Tim's departure, things had leveled back to a state of relative normalcy. The FDA was reviewing the trial, but human testing had been put on an indefinite hold, and Callie expected funding to be pulled within the month. She had returned to her regular duties within the hospital, as had Sawyer, who was bouncing around from department to department quite frequently, as attendings had missed utilizing one of the more competent residents when her time had been monopolized on the orthopedic trial.

Outside of the hospital, Callie and Arizona had quietly begun house hunting. 5 weeks into the pregnancy, Callie's pregnancy symptoms had stayed minimal, limited to the occasional mood swing and tenderness in her breasts some days. It was nothing compared to the hormone casserole with a side of all day sickness she'd been with Sofia. But not trusting her good fortune to last forever, Callie was eager to house hunt as much as possible before she started feeling more and more pregnant. Arizona had found them a realtor, and after hashing out their guidelines (price range, distance from the hospital and Mark's apartment, schools and preschools in the area, etc.) they'd started viewing homes. They'd been out twice, and seen eight properties, but nothing that had struck them as _home_.

They had another appointment with the realtor today. He'd lined up four houses for them to view. It was Mark's weekend with Sofia, so they had all day. They'd been arranging their viewings around Sofia's regular schedule with Mark, for the dual reason of not wanting to bore Sofia with house hunting (it was hardly high on the list of fun ways for a three year old to spend a day) and because taking Sofia along meant that Sofia would undoubtedly tell her Daddy what they'd been up to for the day, and they were still at the point where they wanted to keep things to themselves.

Their careful planning went out the window however, when Mark knocked frantically on their door half an hour before they were due to meet the realtor.

"Hey," Mark greeted when Arizona opened the door for him, entering the apartment with Sofia on his hip, her bag slung over his shoulder. "I got a 911 page from Avery. My burn patient is crashing, they're taking him in right now, but I'm gonna be in surgery all day with this guy." He gave Sofia a kiss. "Sorry munchkin, we'll have fun tonight, when Daddy gets back from the hospital. Bye guys," he added with a wave, hurrying from the apartment.

"Huh," Arizona commented absently as she watched her daughter easily make her way through the kitchen to her toy chest in the living room. "Was not counting on that today." She blew out a puff of air. "I guess I'll call Scott and tell him we'll have to reschedule."

"What? No!" Callie replied quickly. "It could take us months and months to find a place, Arizona. Months during which I will be getting bigger and bigger. We're going."

"Oh, okay," Arizona replied. "Sofia should be fine here by herself for a few hours. She's been getting more and more independent these days. I'm sure she'd love a little alone time."

Callie rolled her eyes. "Call your sister, you dork."

"Ah, that's a much better idea," Arizona giggled.

Ten minutes later, Callie, Arizona and Sofia arrived at Sawyer's apartment.

"Thank you so much, Sawyer," Arizona sighed, helping Sofia out of her coat. "It's Mark's weekend but he got paged and we're gonna be all day. This is so much better for her."

Arizona didn't elaborate on where she and Callie would be all day, and Sawyer didn't ask. The resident had deduced that Callie was, in fact, pregnant. Callie and Sawyer had spent a few days organizing materials from the trial to be sent to the FDA, and when the resident switched Callie's regular coffee for decaf without prompting, Callie knew she knew. She and Arizona had sat her down and confirmed it the next day, because leaving it unsaid had felt weird when she clearly knew. Plus, it meant that they could continue to utilize her services as a baby sitter when they had early doctor's appointments. They hadn't told her that they were house hunting though. Sawyer was obviously knowledgeable enough to know that an OB appointment would not last all day. But she had a habit of rarely asking for information that wasn't readily provided. It was an incredibly attractive quality.

"No problem," Sawyer smiled as she, Callie and Arizona watched Sofia run to the window to watch the construction taking place on the street below that had caught her attention on the way in.

"Hello."

The voice behind them caused the trio to turn, finding Alex standing in the doorway.

"Hey, sorry, I was gonna call you," Sawyer said, her hand ghosting down his arm.

"Did you guys have a date?" Callie asked, feeling guilty.

"We were gonna go ice skating," Sawyer replied. "Kind of. I mean, I don't know how, but Alex was going to teach me. He said I can't keep watching hockey without knowing how to skate."

Arizona smiled at how cute that was.

"We can reschedule our appointment - " Callie started.

"No, no," Alex said quickly. "We can go skating tomorrow. I'll call you," he added, pulling his coat back on.

"Alex," Arizona called. "You don't have to leave because Sofia's here. I know she's not exactly conducive to a romantic date, but if you wanted to spend the day with Sawyer… I mean, you can stay if you want to."

"Oh, okay, cool. Thanks," Alex replied, slipping his coat off again.

Callie was smiling, but Sawyer was positively beaming, knowing that Arizona being okay with Alex spending the day with Sofia was a huge step towards her acceptance of the couple.

"Sofia, we need goodbye kisses," Callie called.

Sofia bounced over, hugging and kissing both of her moms before she noticed the strange man standing there.

"This is Auntie Sawyer's friend, Alex," Callie introduced.

Sofia eyed him warily.

"Hi, Sofia," Alex greeted.

Sofia turned away.

"Sofia Robbin, don't be rude. Say hello," Callie reproached.

"Hi," Sofia offered, before wiggling away and returning to her spot at the window to watch the backhoe. It wasn't that she was shy. It just took her a while to warm up to strangers.

"Alright, well have fun with that," Callie laughed. "We've gotta go, we're gonna be late."

As Callie followed Arizona from the apartment, Sawyer turned her attention to her niece. "Hey, Bear, I wanna go to the park. You wanna come?" she asked.

"Yep," Sofia declared happily, hurrying over to put on her coat and shoes.

"You wanna come to?" Sawyer asked Alex, jokingly.

"Can I come too, Sofia?" Alex asked.

Sofia gave him a look and shrugged.

Sawyer laughed. "I say you can come," she offered, grabbing a quick kiss.

As the trio made their way to the park, Sofia held Sawyer's hand, and kept a watchful eye on Alex. Alex was thinking that he'd been wrong in assuming that Arizona's approval would be the hardest to obtain in regards to his dating Sawyer. From the looks her daughter was giving him, Arizona was an out and out softie. He was scolding himself for feeling this judged by a three year old, when Sofia's attention was drawn away from Alex.

"Can we get ice cream?" she asked, pointing.

"Not before lunch!" Sawyer replied, feigning shock. She watched Alex's face fall and laughed. "Oh, you want ice cream too, Alex?"

"I like ice cream," Alex shrugged.

Sofia glanced at him appraisingly. Maybe this guy wasn't so bad after all.

"I thought you worked in PEDS," Sawyer joked. "Dude, no sugar until there's less than an hour before we return her to her parents."

"Ahhh," Alex laughed. "You are wise."

**XXXXXXXX**

Callie and Arizona met their realtor at this first property he'd selected for them. They'd barely toured it at all though, neither woman being very taken with it. It was right in the sweet spot of what they wanted, geographically. In a good school district and only a 20-minute drive from Mark's and the hospital, but aesthetically and functionally, it just wasn't right.

"I slated that one first because it was closest," Scott admitted. "This next one though, it's the one I was really excited to show you."

Following Scott in their own car, a smile split onto Arizona's face as she pulled into the driveway behind him. The grey stone was pretty, but she was immediately taken by how many big windows there were. Lots of windows had been one of the things on Arizona's list. She loved all of the natural light.

As Arizona and Callie followed their realtor inside, he wisely said nothing. He'd been showing homes for long enough to recognize the look they were both wearing. Like they might be meeting their home for the first time. He'd found it was best to let people just explore for a bit, while they were under the spell, and hit them with the details later.

Entering the front door, Callie and Arizona found themselves in a big foyer with high ceilings and a wide, winding staircase. As they wandered through the house, both women found themselves falling in love. The rooms were bright, open and airy. The kitchen was massive, with shiny new appliances, wide counters and a big island. It opened into a gorgeous dining room. As Callie's hands slid over the counters, she could picture herself cooking here. With Arizona watching and serving as taste-tester. Teaching Sofia to cook. Teaching the baby to cook. Just like her Abuelita had taught her.

There was a living room with a big fireplace and a den big enough to house two desks and serve as their joint office. There were three bathrooms, one of which was an ensuite with a Jacuzzi tub connected to what might possibly be the most gorgeous master bedroom Arizona had ever seen. It had two big windows and a walk-in closet that would easily accommodate both hers and Callie's wardrobe. The other three bedrooms were large and open. One was slightly bigger than the other two, and one had a cushioned window seat. Coming downstairs, they found a second office that the current owners seemed to have converted into a playroom for their kids, and Callie and Arizona both grinned with the idea of doing the same thing. Leaving through the back door, they found themselves on a wide back porch that opened into an expansive, fenced in back yard.

Scott found them sitting side by side on the railing of the porch. He started listing details about square footage and construction dates, but neither woman was really listening. The house was just over half an hour from the hospital, but that actually put it in what Arizona considered the better school district. So when Callie squeezed her hand, she knew.

"I think this is it, Scott," Arizona smiled, squeezing Callie's hand right back.

Scott grinned. "It's at the higher end of your price range, but that's actually a steal for a property like this. It's only been on the market for a few weeks…"

He went on about prices and mortgages and escrow, and Callie knew she should be paying attention but she was sort of in awe. They were buying a house. This was going to be their home. So she couldn't help herself, when in the middle of Scott's ramble, she pulled her wife to her and kissed her.

**XXXXXXXX**

As Callie and Arizona made their way down the hallway to Sawyer's apartment, they could hear giggling coming from inside. They hadn't expected to finish so early, so they'd called Sawyer and let her know that they'd be able to pick Sofia up a lot earlier than they'd anticipated. She'd told them to take their time, so they _might_ have taken a detour back to the apartment for a little more _celebrating_ before retrieving their daughter. But from the sounds coming from inside the apartment, they weren't the only ones having a good day.

Knocking, they heard Sawyer call, "Coming!" followed by an eruption of Sofia's giggles.

Sawyer pulled open the door and greeted them with a smile. "How'd your appointment go?" she asked.

"Really good, thanks," Arizona grinned. She glanced around the room for Sofia, expecting their daughter to come greet them. She found her sitting in Alex's lap on the couch, the two of them pulling apart gummy worms before they popped them in their mouths, a paused Super Mario game displayed on the television before them.

"Gummy worms?" Callie asked, raising her brow.

"Sorry, she and Alex won the slide races. They got to pick the snack," Sawyer shrugged.

The telltale jingle of Super Mario filled the room and Sawyer turned and sprinted back to the couch. "Hey! No fair! Starting without me," she called, vaulting the couch and grabbing her controller.

Sofia shrieked with giggles, her fingers on the joystick and buttons underneath Alex's.

When Alex and Sofia pull off the victory, Alex jumped off of the couch, Sofia in his arms, swinging her gently through the air. "We won!" she shouted.

"Cheaters," Sawyer whined good-naturedly. "Your moms are here Sof," she added.

"Alex and I won the slides and the Mario!" Sofia declared as she bounded towards her mothers, jumping into a hug.

"Is that so?" Callie asked, kissing her cheek. "You've had quite the day. Did you say thank you to Alex and Auntie Sawyer for all the fun you had today?"

Gasping, Sofia pulled away and ran back to the couple perched on the back of the couch. "Thank you!" she cried, hugging them both.

"You forgot to hug your Momma," Sawyer laughed, turning the toddler around and pointing her in Arizona's direction.

"Oh no! Momma!" Sofia called, running back to Arizona.

"How many gummy worms has she had?" Arizona asked, catching her in a hug.

Sawyer and Alex glanced at each other. "A few," Sawyer shrugged.

Arizona rolled her eyes.

"Thank you," Callie smiled, as Arizona wrestled a hyper Sofia into her coat.

"Anytime," Sawyer replied.

"Okay, Mami," Arizona said, standing, "I think we might have to go to the park to run some of this energy off."

"I already went to the park," Sofia stated.

"You can't go back?" Arizona asked, tilting her head.

"I can go back!" Sofia declared happily. "Bye Auntie Sawyer! Bye Alex!" she called, leading her Momma from the apartment by the hand.

Arizona waved her goodbyes over her shoulder, as did Callie, as she followed her wife and daughter. Hurrying to catch up with them, Callie slipped her hand into Arizona's free hand. Today might be perfect.

**That got like super long. **

**Oh well. Hopefully you're all appreciative.**

**Let me hear it guys :)**


	22. Chapter 22

When it had come time to select an OB/GYN for the pregnancy, Callie and Arizona had been torn between convenience and privacy. Going to an OB at Seattle Grace meant that they could schedule doctor's appointments in between surgeries, but it also meant that their pregnancy would become common knowledge almost immediately. There just were no secrets at their hospital. In the end, their desire to keep the pregnancy to themselves had won out, and after consulting with Addison, they'd settled on Dr. Nagra at Settle Pres. They'd only been to see him twice, but both liked him. He seemed nice, and competent and discrete.

Their twelve-week appointment went smoothly enough. Dr. Nagra assured them that everything looked very healthy, and he'd also assured Callie (as Arizona had repeatedly) that the fatigue she'd been feeling was completely normal.

"I remember being tired with Sofia," Callie said, "But I thought that was because I spent all day throwing up and avoiding food and being forced to drink decaf."

Arizona smirked.

"But I've barely been sick at all this time. I've only vomited twice in twelve weeks, so why do I feel so tired?"

"You're growing a baby, Dr. Torres," Dr. Nagra smiled. "In the first twelve weeks, the placenta is being built. Your body is working overtime. Fatigue is completely normal. So you should rest. Take advantage of the time to sleep now before 3am feedings become the norm."

Arizona smiled and squeezed Callie's hand. They knew all of this. They were both doctors. She was a freaking pediatric surgeon. Not to mention they'd both been reading every pregnancy book they could get their hands on. But despite her own assurances that Callie's fatigue was normal, she understood her wife's desire to hear those words come from the mouth of the OB.

Dr. Nagra adjusted the ultrasound wand and the sound of the baby's heartbeat came through loud and clear. Like an absolute symphony to its mothers' ears. Dr. Nagra smiled and passed the wand to Arizona. "Usually I'd just freeze the picture, but I figure you know what you're doing with this." He rose from his seat. "I'll be back in about ten minutes," he noted as he pulled the exam room door shut behind him.

As Arizona maneuvered the wand, Callie smiled. "We're done the first trimester."

"I know," Arizona beamed. "You're such a big little bug now, aren't you?" she cooed, pressing her lips to the side of Callie's stomach to avoid getting gel on her face.

"Arizona," Callie smiled, tugging her wife up towards her.

Arizona met her gaze.

"I want to tell people," Callie grinned. "I wanna call you parents and tell them that they get to be Nana and Papa again. And tell my Dad he's getting another nieto. I want to tell Sofia that she's gonna be a big sister." Callie paused. "Do you… Are you ready?"

"So ready," Arizona breathed, leaning in for a kiss. "I was on the phone with my mom last night and I almost burst I wanted to tell her so bad."

Callie laughed. "We'll Skype them tonight or tomorrow. My Dad too. And we should tell Mark before we tell Sofia, because you know she's gonna be so excited about being a big sister she's gonna want to tell him right away."

Arizona nodded. "I can't wait to tell our friends. I've just been so… excited, Callie, and happy for the last ten weeks, and the only people I can talk to about how excited I am are you and Sawyer. I think Sawyer's just about ready to tear her own ears off because I won't shut up about it. I need more people to annoy with my happiness."

Callie giggled and pulled her wife in for another kiss.

That appointment had been at 7:30 in the morning. Sawyer had dropped Sofia off at daycare for the couple, so when they'd arrived at SGMW, they'd popped in for a quick hello to their little girl before they parted ways and went about their days with obnoxiously large grins plastered on both of their faces.

Mark had come over for dinner that night. And after Sofia had exhausted herself regaling all three of her parents with the excitement of life at daycare, Arizona had scooped the drooping toddler up, and bundled her into bed.

While Arizona was tucking Sofia in, Mark made to leave. "Thanks for dinner, Cal," he grinned. "Much better than the Hungry Man I was gonna throw in the microwave."

Callie made a face. "You don't feed those to Sofia, do you?"

Mark laughed. "Nope. Daddy can cook. I just get lazy sometimes. I'm not lazy when she's around."

Callie smiled. "I know. Stay for a minute. We need to talk."

Mark faltered. "What? What's wrong?"

Arizona reappeared in the living room and took a seat on the couch. Callie sat beside her and Mark took the chair opposite the couple.

"What's wrong?" Mark repeated.

"Nothing's wrong," Callie smiled, threading her fingers through Arizona's. "We're pregnant," she grinned.

"What?" Mark asked dumbly as Arizona hand subconsciously slipped to Callie's still flat stomach. "How far along are you?" he asked.

"12 weeks," Arizona replied.

"You're through the first trimester," Mark stated. "You didn't tell me until you'd finished the first trimester."

Callie wasn't sure, but she thought she could hear a hint of anger in Mark's voice.

Arizona thought she detected anger too, so she bristled a little when she replied, "That's not uncommon, Mark. To wait until the first trimester's over to tell people. To make sure things are going well."

"I'm not people," Mark countered, and both women were sure of the anger this time. "I'm Sofia's father. You should have told me. You should have told me when you were thinking about trying."

"Excuse me?" Callie replied indignantly. "This might be news to you, Mark, but Arizona and I do not consult with you when we're making decisions about _our_ life and _our_ family."

"You do when it affects Sofia," Mark argued, not backing down. "Did you think about her at all when you decided this?"

Arizona pursed her lips. "Okay, Mark, you are way out of line. You know Sofia is the first thing we think about when we decide anything."

"Really?" Mark asked, and Callie was fairly certain the only thing keeping him from shouting was their daughter sleeping down the hall. "Did you? Because how do you think this will make her feel? You know, someday she's gonna grasp that you two have _your_ kids, and then there's her. Your kid with me. You think she's not gonna think that you love those kids more?"

"You know we won't love this baby any differently than we love Sofia," Arizona countered, also fighting to keep her voice from a yell. "And she'll know that because we won't treat them any differently."

"You think - " Mark started, but Callie cut him off.

"You're never gonna have another kid, Mark?" Callie accused. "You and Lexie? You're never gonna have a baby with Lexie?"

"That's different," Mark replied tersely.

"How?" Callie asked.

"I'm Sofia's dad. Lexie would be her stepmother. They would be her half-siblings. One parent in common," he added, pointing to himself. "This baby," he gestured, and Arizona's hand slid protectively across Callie's stomach, " will be her full brother or sister. Two parents the same."

Arizona bit her lip. "Mark, Sofia's life is different. She has three parents. Our life is different because of it. There will be questions we have to navigate, from Sofia, and from the baby. Someday he or she is going to ask why Sofia has a daddy and they don't. Sofia is going to ask the same thing. But we will deal with that when it comes. We don't stop living our lives."

Mark took a deep breath. "You should have - "

"Get out," Callie cut him off. "Now. There is one correct response when someone tells you they're pregnant. And that is _congratulations_. If you have concerns about how this will affect Sofia, you bring them up later, calmly, in a civil conversation. You do not attack us. So get out."

Mark roughly made his way to the door and Callie followed him. Once he'd stepped passed the threshold and into the hallway Callie added, "Oh, by the way, we bought a house. We're moving." And she slammed the door in his face.

Sighing and dropping her head to the door, Callie felt the safety of Arizona's arms wrapping her up from behind.

"That was not what I wanted," Callie sighed.

"I know," Arizona replied, kissing the back of her neck.

"Why did we tell him first?" Callie whined. "And let him ruin this on us."

"He's not ruining this," Arizona argued, turning Callie in her arms. "I refuse to let him ruin this for us, for the baby. Tomorrow we'll tell Sof, and we'll tell our parents, and they'll all be nothing but awesome and happy for us, I promise."

Callie nodded. "Kay," she agreed.

Arizona caught her eye and shook her head. "Don't do that," she chided gently.

"Do what?" Callie asked.

"Listen to Mark," Arizona explained. "He's wrong."

Callie nodded.

"Calliope," Arizona started, "We won't love them any different. We couldn't. I could not love Sofia more than I do. You could not love Sofia more than you do. We will treat them the same and love them the same, and yes, some day they'll have questions. And when those questions come, we'll answer them. But one of those questions will never, ever be _do you love her, or do you love him, more than me?_ Sofia will never ask that about the baby and the baby will never ask that about Sofia. We will never love them or treat them any differently, so it will never occur to them to ask, okay?"

Callie nodded and rested her forehead against Arizona's. "God, you're so good at that," she breathed. "Talking down the crazy. How did you get so good at that?"

"I've had practice," Arizona chuckled.

Callie looked at her quizzically.

"Months ago," Arizona elaborated, "when we first started talking about this, I asked myself a lot of the questions Mark asked tonight."

"Arizona - " Callie started.

"This baby will look like me," Arizona continued. "And Sofia and I aren't genetically related. So I did think, what if Sofia thinks that I love this baby more than her?"

"And?" Callie asked.

"And then I thought about you," Arizona smiled. "About the fact that you won't have a genetic relation to this baby, but the idea that you won't love him or her more than anything in the world, more than most people are able to love anything, well… that's ridiculous. And Sofia will be able to see how much you love this baby, and see how much I love her and… she'll know. It'll be okay."

Callie pulled her in for a kiss. "It'll be perfect," she breathed.

**XXXXXXXX**

At breakfast the next morning, as Sofia played with her cheerios, Arizona and Callie sat across the table from her, sipping their coffee. With a kiss to Callie's cheek, Arizona turned her attention to their daughter. "Hey, guess what, Sof? Mami and I have something exciting to tell you."

Sofia looked up expectantly.

"Momma and I are having a baby," Callie smiled slowly. "You're gonna be a big sister, baby girl."

Sofia digested this for a split second before a huge grin broke out on her face. "A baby?" she asked.

Callie and Arizona nodded.

"I be a big sister?" she clarified.

"Yep, you're gonna be a big sister," Arizona confirmed.

"A big sister!" Sofia shouted happily.

Callie and Arizona laughed, both rising to hug her and kiss her little cheeks.

"Am I gonna get a little brother? Or a little sister?" Sofia asked as they made their way to daycare. Her excited questions hadn't stopped since she'd heard the news, and her excitement warmed Callie's heart.

"I don't know," Arizona replied. "Which would you like? A brother or a sister?"

"A sister," Sofia replied quickly. "No, a brother," she amended a second later. "No, a sister," she changed her mind again.

Callie laughed. "Well we won't know for a little while Sofia, but I promise you, boy or girl, you're gonna love them. And they're gonna love you."

Sofia beamed at her, before catching sight of Alex and Sawyer making their way into the hospital. "Auntie Sawyer!" she cried excitedly, letting go of Callie's hand and running through the mostly empty hallway to greet her aunt.

Sawyer turned at her name, and smiled as she dropped to her knees to catch her niece in a hug.

"Guess what!" Sofia greeted excitedly as her moms made their way over. "I'm gonna be a big sister!"

Alex looked surprised but Sawyer just grinned. "That's awesome, Bear!" she replied with an enthusiasm that almost matched Sofia's. "You're gonna be the best big sister ever!"

"I thought that was me," Arizona joked as she and Callie came to join them.

Sawyer smirked.

"You're a big sister, Momma?" Sofia asked.

"I'm Auntie Sawyer's big sister," Arizona explained.

Sofia turned to her aunt as if looking for her to confirm this claim. Sawyer widened her eyes and wiggled her brow playfully.

"Momma's your big sister?" Sofia repeated to Sawyer.

"Yep," Sawyer nodded.

Sofia pursed her lips, unsure of how to process this new information.

Callie laughed. "C'mon big sister," she said, scooping Sofia into her arms, "We gotta get you to daycare. You can tell Miss Amy your big news."

Arizona kissed her daughter goodbye as Callie took her off to daycare.

"Congratulations," Alex offered his boss with a smile.

"Thanks, Karev," Arizona smiled.

"She's so excited," Sawyer grinned, referring to Sofia.

"I'm glad someone is," Arizona sighed.

Sawyer shot Alex a look that he really didn't need, sensing that the conversation was about to become personal. He slid his hand down Sawyer's arm in a silent goodbye before making his way to the pediatric wing.

"What's up?" Sawyer asked.

"Mark," Arizona replied. "He was… less than thrilled when we told him last night."

"What? Why?" Sawyer probed.

"He's afraid of how a baby will affect Sofia."

"Umm… she'll be thrilled," Sawyer deadpanned, referencing Sofia's obvious joy.

"She is now," Arizona agreed. "But he's afraid that someday she'll see a distinction between _our_ kids, mine and Callie's and her, our kid with Mark."

"I'm sure someday she will see a distinction," Sawyer hedged. "But one that won't matter at all. You'd never let it."

"Thanks," Arizona sighed. "I gotta go. Rounds."

Sawyer nodded. "Hey, Zoey," she called to Arizona's retreating form. Arizona turned. "Congratulations," Sawyer smiled.

Arizona grinned.

**XXXXXXXX**

When Sawyer found Mark sitting alone in the gallery of OR 2, watching Avery perform a skin graft, she greeted him with a coffee, followed by a swift punch in the arm.

"Ow," Mark recoiled, sloshing his coffee as he gripped his bruised bicep. "What was that for?"

"You know _congratulations_ is the only thing you say when someone tells you they're pregnant, right?" Sawyer chided.

Mark sighed. "They told you before me, didn't they?"

Sawyer nodded. "Yeah, but mostly because I'm observant and I figured it out on my own. They just confirmed it. And I was smart enough to be nothing but happy for them."

"Did they tell you they're moving too?" Mark asked.

Sawyer nodded. Keeping so much good news to herself had threatened to kill Arizona, so she and Callie had decided that if they were going to share with someone, it made the most sense to share with the one person who already knew they were pregnant.

"I don't know what I'm gonna do," Mark said, hanging his head.

"Well, first off, you're gonna buy them a _really_ nice baby shower gift, and you're gonna apologize, and you're gonna say congratulations."

Sawyer paused, and Mark stared at his coffee.

"They're not taking her away from you," Sawyer continued softly. "I know you're freaking out that Callie and Arizona are building a family, and you're afraid that you're becoming the outsider. You're afraid that Sofia's going to have her family, and then you, the guy whose place she sleeps at on Wednesdays and every other weekend. But Mark, you're her daddy, and she will always love you. You will always be her family."

Mark let out a sigh.

"Someday you and Lexie will have a family that Sof will be a part of. And Callie and Arizona will have their family that Sofia will be a part of. Sof's a lucky kid, Mark. There are so many people that love her." Sawyer paused. "And you know you are going to love this baby, almost as much as you love Sofia. And this baby will love its Uncle Mark." Sawyer met Mark's gaze. "So get your head out of your ass," she finished.

Mark nodded. "Did you ever think about going into psych?" he asked. "Instead of surgery?"

"Not even a little bit," Sawyer smiled, taking a drag of her own coffee.

**XXXXXXXX**

That night after dinner, Callie, Arizona and Sofia skyped Arizona's parents and Callie's dad to share their good news. Sofia monopolized most of the conversations with her pure excitement, but that had only made it better as Barbara and Carlos both cried while the Colonel barely fended off his own tears.

All of that excitement had Sofia pretty much exhausted by the time they hung up with Carlos, so ushering her off to bed took place with minimal fuss. Once their little girl was asleep, Callie and Arizona were lounging in the living room when a knock sounded at the door.

When Arizona found Mark in the hallway, she wordlessly let him in, and Callie came to join them in the kitchen, her arms crossing protectively across her chest. Mark sheepishly handed her a gift bag, from which Callie revealed a white onesie that read _My Uncle is a Stud_.

"I was an ass," Mark started earnestly. "A complete ass. I should never have said… I just panicked. I love Sofia so much and I'm terrified of ever losing her. But I know you'd never keep her from me. I know that. So there's no excuse for how I acted and what I said. You're amazing moms and this baby is so lucky to have you. Sofia is so lucky to have you and nothing could ever change that. I really am so happy for you two, and I can't wait to meet your new little guy."

Callie nodded as her fingers traced over the onesie. "I'm sorry that I threw the fact that we're moving in your face like that. I know that's a big deal."

"Yeah, it is," Mark nodded, "but I deserved it. And of course I'm gonna miss having you right across the hall, but she'll be in daycare so I'll still see her every day. And even when she starts kindergarten she'll still be in daycare after school…" Mark paused and stared at his feet. "So where's the house?" he asked, "Pretty sure at this point I owe you a lot of help moving."

Arizona smiled politely and went to retrieve the files on the house to show Mark. She hadn't forgiven him completely, but he did deserve to know where his child would be living. And she believed him when he said he'd just panicked. Mark wasn't a bad guy, he just had a habit of saying hurtful things when he was scared. Things he didn't mean. That didn't mean that they didn't hurt, but it did mean that they were forgivable. Eventually.

As Arizona rooted through the drawer that housed the information on their new home, Callie added. "I'm glad you apologized. But Mark, Sofia is excited and happy. And when the baby comes… that kind of talk can never happen around them. Ever. If that's how you feel - "

"It's not," Mark interjected quickly. "Honestly Cal, I know you. And Blondie. You'll love them with everything you have. I know that. I just freaked out and said those awful things because I don't ever want to lose Sofia. But now that I've got my head out of my ass you don't ever have to worry about me saying something like that again. And even if I did feel that way, which I don't, you have to know I would never, ever, say anything like that to your kids."

Callie nodded. "Good answer."

**Hope that was good for you too.**

**The next chapter will involve a time jump again. **

**There's rumors of the baby bump finally appearing.**

**But that might just be talk. Who knows?**

**Leave your thoughts :)**


	23. Chapter 23

**So I may or may not have mixed up the dates for my last exam… and, upon realizing this mistake, I may have had to cram like a crazy person for four days because my previously thought out study schedule was now irrelevant. **_**If**_** this had happened, that might explain why it took me a week to put up this new chapter. Not that I'm saying that actually happened. Because that would make me look like a disorganized moron…**

A week and a half after what Callie now referred to as "Mark's moment of dumb-assery", Arizona was well on her way to forgiving the man in question. Years ago, Arizona had learned that when Mark was scared, he lashed out and said hurtful things that he didn't mean. Being told that she was "nothing" by the father of her child while she watched the love of her life, fight for her life, had been a moment of pure anguish in a situation that Arizona hadn't fathomed could get more painful. And Arizona had confessed to Callie that Mark's words about their disregard for Sofia in their quest for another baby had, in a way, brought her back to that moment. So Arizona had had a talk with Mark, a serious talk, about this pattern of behavior, and how it had to stop. Not just for the sake of her and Callie's feelings, but also because Arizona was a little bit terrified that Sofia might one day pick up this habit of lashing out with hurtful words she didn't mean. And the way that Mark had honestly and sincerely confessed that he was terrified of that too, and that more than anything he didn't want to teach her to hurt the people she loved, made Arizona believe him when he said that he was working on it. And that he would do everything he could to try and stop.

But it hadn't occurred to Arizona, until a week and a half after Mark's apology, that she had no idea what had spurred his turn around. Sure, Mark didn't mean the hurtful words he spat, but he was nothing if not a stubborn ass, and based on his history, it normally took some kind of inciting incident (like the birth of their daughter) for Mark to realize what a prick he'd been and apologize. Doubting he'd made the transition on his own, Arizona pondered his behavior until she caught sight of a flash of blonde hair cutting into an on-call room and the answer that Arizona realized should have been obvious from the start struck her. Following Sawyer to the on-call room, Arizona tried the handle, and finding it unlocked, she knocked gently while slowly pushing it open. What was that they say about experience being a brutal teacher?

At the sound of the knocking, Sawyer raised her head from the bed she was lying on, and smiled when Arizona had pushed the door open enough for her to recognize that it was her sister who stood there.

"You can come in, Arizona. I'm alone," Sawyer grinned.

"Just checking," Arizona replied cheekily, letting herself into the small room and shutting the door behind her. Taking a step towards the bed, Arizona paused. "He's not on his way to meet you or something is he?"

"No," Sawyer chuckled with a good-natured roll of her eyes. "I got paged in at 11 last night. I haven't slept yet." She pushed herself into a seated position and patted the mattress beside herself. "What's up?" she asked.

Plopping down beside her sister, Arizona smiled softly. "You talked to Mark, didn't you?"

"All the time," Sawyer replied, confused. "But I get the sense that you're talking about one specific conversation."

"About the baby," Arizona elaborated. "You got him to apologize. Got him on board."

Sawyer matched her sister's soft smile. "He was always on board, Zo, he just needed to be reminded of that. To be reminded that he's not a jackass."

"Not just anyone could remind him of that," Arizona stated.

Sawyer shrugged. "I could. I've always been good at that. I only use my powers for good though," she added as a joke.

"No, Sawyer, it's a big deal," Arizona pushed. "For me to not have to deal with Mark, and for Callie not to be stressed. It's…" she paused. "You have always stuck up for my family. And I just… thank you. I never say thank you."

"Zoey, you don't have to thank me," Sawyer replied quietly. "I love them. They're my family too."

"They are," Arizona agreed, taking Sawyer's hand and squeezing it gently. "But I should still thank you. I never thanked you for what you did with Timothy. Altering Callie's cartilage to fool the tests. Callie said you ran over 4000 trials to get it right."

Sawyer smiled and offered a non-committal shrug.

"The whole Tim situation," Arizona continued. "I think… I think I gave you kind of a hard time about that. About not telling me."

"I should have," Sawyer interrupted quickly.

"Maybe," Arizona shrugged, "But that was a pretty insane and impossible situation to be in. And I remember how stressed out you were when you were keeping it a secret. You made the synced up, pmsing moms look sane. It's just… I know I was hard on you… and I could have been better about it."

"I could have been better too," Sawyer added. "And maybe you would have been different if you hadn't found out that I was lying about seeing Alex on the same day you found out about Tim. It wasn't exactly an easy situation for you to be in either, Arizona."

"I think we came out on the other side of it pretty okay though, didn't we?" Arizona asked.

"Very okay," Sawyer nodded quickly.

Arizona grinned and kissed her little sister's cheek. "I love you," she smiled.

"I love you, too," Sawyer replied with a sleepy smile.

"I'll let you sleep," Arizona said, rising. "But honestly why you like to sleep in PEDS is beyond me."

Sawyer chucked. "I like to have sex in PEDS. The sleep has just kind of developed as a by-product. When we were a secret, I'd sleep in PEDS even when I wasn't having sex so that people wouldn't get suspicious when I did come here. And now I'm just used to it. Plus it means that sometimes I get to see Alex after I wake up from a nap."

"What about me?" Arizona joked.

"Or you," Sawyer amended with a smirk as she fought back a yawn.

"Sweet dreams, kiddo," Arizona smiled as she pulled the door shut behind her.

**XXXXXXXX**

Things clicked along quickly after that. The weeks rolled by, and before they knew it, Arizona and Callie found themselves waiting for Dr. Nagra to perform their 20-week ultra sound. Arizona's hand ghosted over Callie's abdomen and absently, the blonde mused over how she couldn't wait for the bump to finally pop. Callie had "popped" with Sofia at 18 weeks, and statistically, women tended to show sooner in subsequent pregnancies than in their first. But as a doctor and a surgeon, Arizona knew that every pregnancy was different, and she couldn't count on what had happened with Sofia to dictate what would happen this time around. Especially given how different the two pregnancies had been thus far. The only similarity Arizona could spot at this point was the fact that the second trimester hormones were making Callie nothing short of insatiable. She grinned at the thought.

Callie, on the other hand, was thinking about the house. The plan was for them to be moved in by the end of the month, and things were pretty on schedule with that front. Mark had surprisingly been a big help. Helping with packing or just taking Sofia for a few extra hours when her moving mommies needed a break. Sawyer had been her usual helpful self, but she had come along with the pleasant surprise of the eager to please Alex. Sofia had finally gotten excited about the move too. She'd been upset at first, when they'd told her Daddy wouldn't be across the hall anymore, but after visiting her new house a few times she was coming around. They had let her choose which of the three bedrooms she wanted as her own, and the toddler had, not surprisingly, chosen the largest room. With that decision made, Callie and Arizona had decided to turn the room with the window seat into the nursery, and those were the two rooms that Callie wanted to complete first.

"I think we should paint the nursery green," Callie blurted, as her thoughts rolled through her head, rousing Arizona from her own musings about sex and baby bumps.

"Hmmm?" Arizona asked.

"The nursery," Callie repeated. "We should do a soft green. We can add pinks and whites to make it girlier or blues and browns to make it more boyish once the baby is here. But until then, it should be neutral. And I know people always go with yellow for neutral but yellow is so not a gender-neutral colour. I can not think of a single dude who would want a yellow room."

"You don't want to find out the sex today?" Arizona asked, face falling slightly.

"I… no," Callie replied. "You do?" she asked. They hadn't with Sofia so she'd just assumed.

Arizona slapped a smile on her face. "Not if you don't want to. I can wait."

Callie paused, remembering back to her last pregnancy. "You knew, didn't you?" she asked. "With Sofia, you knew she was a girl, even though Mark and I didn't." After the last ultrasound before the accident, Arizona had gotten weird about pronouns and the baby. Before, they'd used he or she interchangeably when talking about it. After the 20-week ultrasound though, Arizona had made a point of saying _he or she_ every time, like she was afraid that just saying one would be a give away. Callie had been meaning to ask her about it when they got to the bed and breakfast, but it had quickly been pushed from her mind by far more important concerns until this very moment.

"I…" Arizona paused. "Okay, yes. I did. I'm a pediatric surgeon, Callie. I read ultrasounds on a regular basis. If the genitals are showing, I can't look at an ultrasound and _not_ see the sex."

"So then you're gonna know?" Callie posited.

"I don't have to," Arizona amended quickly. "I can look away, and tell Dr. Nagra not to let me look when the genitals are visible."

"No, that's silly," Callie argued, taking her wife's hand. "You're not looking away from our baby. When he pulls the image up on the screen, you tell me, okay?"

"Me?" Arizona asked.

"Yeah," Callie nodded. "You're not just going to not look at ultrasounds for the next four months. And I don't want you to have to pretend like you don't know. So you tell me if we're having a little boy or a little girl, 'kay?"

Callie could read an ultrasound if she tried really hard and made her brain process all the way back to her internship, which was the last time she'd had to read one. But Arizona could read it instantly, so this just felt more right.

"Okay," Arizona breathed with a grin and a quick kiss as the door to the exam room opened and Dr. Nagra entered.

The exam progressed smoothly, Dr. Nagra saying everything looked very healthy. Which was great, it really was, but now that they'd decoded to find out, Callie found herself rather focused on the baby's sex.

Dr. Nagra applied the gel to her stomach, and Callie reached for Arizona's hand. An image of what Arizona affectionately referred to as their "bug" jumped to the screen as Dr. Nagra manipulated the wand to view different angles. As different pictures popped up on screen, Callie turned to look at her wife.

Beaming, Arizona dropped her forehead to Callie's shoulder for a second before meeting her wife's eyes with an enormous grin plastered on her face. "It's a girl," she whispered.

"A girl?" Callie repeated, tears springing to her eyes.

Arizona nodded fervently, the hand that Callie wasn't still clutching shooting up to wipe at her own tears before it shot to the back of Callie's head, pulling her in for a hard kiss.

"A girl," Callie repeated reverently against Arizona's lips. They were having a girl.

**XXXXXXXX**

The baby bump had popped by the end of the week and was growing steadily. Sofia had fully embraced the idea of a baby sister, and would rattle on about all of the things she and her baby sister were going to do together to whoever would listen. Now, at 6 months pregnant, they had officially moved into the house at the beginning of the week. Callie had supervised while Arizona, Mark, Lexie, Sawyer and Alex had managed to move everything in in a day, while Sofia had a play date with Zola.

The task now fell to getting everything unpacked. But Callie was fairly certain that they'd somehow purchased magic moving boxes that multiplied their belongings. Because there was no possible way they'd fit this much stuff in their tiny apartment. They had been unpacking for five days and it felt like they'd barely made a dent. Which was why Callie now found herself, sitting on the floor across from Arizona, sorting through yet another box of kitchen supplies and discussing baby names. They'd been at it for about half an hour (since Sofia had gone down for her nap) when a swift kick from the baby caused Callie to lose focus on what Arizona was saying, and grimace from the blow.

"Oh, Isobel's not _that_ bad," Arizona argued upon seeing the face Callie made.

"No, no, baby's using Mami as a punching bag," Callie replied, sliding her hand over her small bump.

"Oh! Can I feel?" Arizona asked eagerly, tossing aside yet another frying pan.

"She's kicking the wrong side," Callie replied even as Arizona's hand made contact with her stomach.

"Oh," Arizona pouted, withdrawing her hand.

"And Isobel is always gonna make me think of Izzie Stevens, and I'm just never going to like her and definitely don't want that association with the baby. So no to Isobel," Callie added.

"Oh, right," Arizona nodded. "No to Isobel."

"Hello!" a voice sounded from the foyer.

"In the kitchen," Arizona called back.

Sawyer made her way to where the couple sat, the only one of their friends not working today, and therefore, roped into helping with more unpacking.

"What's up?" Sawyer greeted, crossing her legs indian-style to sit down next to her sister.

"Well, we own more kitchen appliances than Jamie Oliver," Callie replied with a roll of her eyes.

Sawyer glanced around them. "All of these are kitchen?" she asked, incredulously.

"We've got a long afternoon coming up," Arizona joked.

"So what are we talking about?" Sawyer asked, pulling a box to herself and ripping at the tape.

"What do you think of the name Emily?" Arizona asked, conversationally.

"For the baby?" Sawyer replied. "It's nice. Goes well with Sofia."

"Annddd…" Callie prompted.

"Hmmm?" Sawyer questioned.

"I might now have your super power, Peach, but even I could tell that was forced," Callie laughed.

Arizona raised an eyebrow.

"It's pretty!" Sawyer defended quickly. "It's just… I mean, how many Emily's do you have in PEDS right now?"

Arizona thought for a moment. "Two."

"I think there's been at least one Emily in there the entire time I've worked at SGMW. It's just… it's kind of common."

"Arizona," Arizona pointed to herself, "and Calliope," she pointed to her wife. "Common's not such a bad thing. Distinctive can be a pain in the ass."

Sawyer laughed. "Oh, c'mon. I was always the only Sawyer growing up, I never minded. I kinda liked it."

"That's because Sawyer is cool," Arizona grumbled.

Sawyer laughed again.

"Why is that your name, Peaches?" Callie asked. "Sawyer Georgia, how did you become one of the state sisters?"

"You know Callie is a very common nickname for California," Sawyer replied. "You're kind of like the state wives. Right next door to each other."

Arizona burst out laughing and Callie paused. "It's different when it's you," she mumbled.

"Isn't it?" Sawyer smirked.

"How'd you get your name?" Arizona reiterated the question, once she'd gotten over her giggles.

"Georgia is not for the state," Sawyer smirked, "Georgia was the name of my mom's best friend who died in a car accident when they were 14."

Arizona nodded solemnly. "And Sawyer?" she prompted.

"My mom was really close to her grandmother growing up," Sawyer explained. "Her dad's mother. She wanted to name me after her, but her name was Ethel, and my mom said she couldn't bring herself to do that to me. Sawyer was my grandmother's maiden name."

"That's really sweet," Arizona smiled.

Callie reached out and touched Arizona's knee. "What about my abuelita? We could name the baby after her!"

Arizona looked confused. "Your grandmother's name is also your mother's name. You want to name the baby Lucia?" Given the fact that Callie hadn't spoken to her mother in over two years now, that just didn't seem likely to Arizona.

"No, the other one, silly," Callie replied.

It took Arizona a moment to come up with the name, but when she did, her eyes widened. "Oh, Callie. Oh, no. No, no."

"What?" Callie asked in disbelief. "It's a beautiful name!"

"Callie…" Arizona tried again.

Callie crossed her arms over her chest.

"What's the name?" Sawyer asked.

"Margarita," Callie replied.

Sawyer's eyes widened for a brief second as she made eye contact with Arizona before looking back to the floor.

"Oh, you don't like it either?" Callie huffed.

"Callie, it's a nice name," Sawyer started.

"But she's going to look like me," Arizona cut in. "In all likelihood she will have blonde hair and blue eyes. Can you imagine if Sawyer or I was named Margarita?"

"It's beautiful," Callie pouted.

"She'd make it through the younger grades okay," Sawyer offered, "but eventually some kid would make the alcohol connection and she'd get teased."

"And," Arizona continued, "into her adult life, people will find it strange. Maybe if she looked Spanish they'd get past it, but a WASP-y looking kid named Margarita? No, Callie."

Callie pouted.

"Hey, I am thankful every day that my mother found a creative way to name me after her grandmother and didn't stick me with the name Ethel. You could be creative. What about Daisy? Margarita means daisy in Spanish," Sawyer offered.

Callie made a face. "So un-badass."

Sawyer bit her lip. "I'd say keep thinking."

"We will," Arizona muttered.

Callie shot her a look as the doorbell rang.

"Yeah, I'm gonna get that," Arizona stated, quick to escape the angry stare of her wife.

Making her way through the kitchen and into the foyer, Arizona pulled open the door to greet what was likely another new neighbor come to introduce themselves. Pulling open the door, Arizona froze.

"Hey, AJ," Tim greeted.

**Next update as soon as I get a chance.**

**Until then, please fill my boring day with the chime of my phone getting reviews. :)**


	24. Chapter 24

_Making her way through the kitchen and into the foyer, Arizona pulled open the door to greet what was likely another new neighbour come to introduce themselves. Pulling open the door, Arizona froze._

"_Hey, AJ," Tim greeted._

Arizona stared back, dumbfounded and speechless. Tim's blue eyes, so very like her own, stared back at her. He'd taken out the coloured contacts. He'd cut his hair too, cut away the dyed strands so that his own, natural, sandy hair was back. The plastic surgery was still there, but even so, he looked more like her brother than ever.

"You're back," she finally managed.

Tim nodded. "I was able to get Mitchell Baron discharged a lot faster than I thought. It only took about a month. And the favours I called in… People owed me. They were all pretty willing to help."

Arizona nodded.

Tim stood awkwardly with his hands in his pockets for a moment before he leaned back and glanced up at the house. "So you moved?" he asked, conversationally.

"Uh, yeah," Arizona started, before pausing. "Wait, you knew where we lived before?" she asked.

"I kept tabs," Tim shrugged. "On your life. Mom and Dad's lives. That's how I found out about Sawyer. That, uh… that freaked me out. Seeing an update in Dad's file and reading that he had another kid. Must have been pretty shocking for you, too."

"Umm. Yeah," Arizona replied flatly, giving him her _you're an idiot_ look that Tim hadn't realized he'd missed so much.

"She here?" Tim tried again.

Arizona raised her brow in confusion.

"Sawyer," Tim clarified. "That's her boyfriend's license plate," he added, gesturing to Alex's car in the driveway.

"Wow. That's a little creepy," Arizona commented. "No. Actually, that's a lot creepy. You know Alex's license plate?"

"I kept tabs," Tim repeated. "I ran a background check on him when I found out they were dating. I just… remembered the plate number."

"Oh," Arizona nodded, pinching the edge of her t-shirt between her thumb and forefinger, the shock of Tim's appearance not quite worn off yet.

"Is he here?" Tim asked. "The boyfriend?"

"No," Arizona replied. "It's just me, Callie and Sawyer."

"Oh, okay, well then, can I come in?" Tim asked, rolling to the balls of his feet as he stood awkwardly on the front step.

"Oh… yeah, sure," Arizona replied, pushing the door open wider so that Tim could pass.

"It's nice," Tim commented as Arizona closed the door and he scanned the foyer.

Callie and Sawyer's laughter rang in from the kitchen, catching both siblings' attention. Arizona sighed and gestured for Tim to follow her.

"Hey, babe," Callie greeted as she heard Arizona entering the kitchen. "Another neighbour?"

"Not a neighbour," Arizona replied.

"Hi guys."

Callie and Sawyer's heads snapped up in unison to see Tim standing before them.

"Tim," Callie stated, somewhat dumbly as she stared at her brother-in-law.

"Hey, Callie," Tim greeted. "Sawyer," he added, with a nod to his other sister.

Sawyer pushed herself up off of the ground. "Hi, Tim," she greeted, grabbing the bag she'd deposited on the counter when she'd arrived. "I'm gonna head out."

"No, stay," Arizona interjected quickly. "You… you helped. You should hear what he has to say."

Sawyer glanced briefly at Callie before she set her bag back down.

"What… um… what happened?" Arizona asked, turning to Tim. "I…" she seemed to shake herself mentally, pushing that stuttering woman that was so unlike herself, and the last remnants of her shock from her consciousness. "Are you actually back, Tim?"

Tim cracked a smile. "I actually am."

Arizona pulled forward one of the chairs around the kitchen table and sat. Tim followed suit. Sawyer extended a hand to help 6 months pregnant Callie from her seated position on the floor.

As the Latina stretched out her back, Tim smiled. "Congratulations," he offered, glancing between his sister and his sister-in-law.

"Thank you," Callie smiled softly as she and Sawyer took their seats at the table as well.

"So what… what did you do?" Arizona asked. And no one missed the smile that had spread onto her face at Tim's proclamation that he was indeed, back.

Tim delved into the details of the favours he had pulled to extract himself from his life at the military, and to create a new life that couldn't be traced to his old one. Fishing out his wallet, he pulled out his new driver's license.

"Cameron Timothy Beale," Arizona read before passing the card to Callie.

"British Columbia?" Callie asked, as she examined the license.

"Vancouver," Tim nodded. "Getting situated outside of the US made a lot more sense right now. Safer. Easier. And, hey, turns out I like Canada. Nice people, good beer."

"And the Canucks," Sawyer added.

"Yes," Tim nodded with a smile. "Can't wait for September. I'm gonna turn into one of those rioting Vancouver Canucks fans. When they're not playing the Flyers, of course."

Sawyer smirked.

"So you're free," Arizona surmised. "…and Canadian," she added. "But what does that mean? For us? Will we see you?"

Tim nodded. "I really want that. As much as possible. That's why I chose Vancouver. It's only a few hours. So we can do this however you like, but when you want my company, I'll be here. I made Timothy my middle name so that you can call me Tim without it raising any questions even though I've been going by Cam back in Vancouver. And here…" he fished into his pocket and pulled out a business card. "That's my cell. So you can call me whenever. And my e-mail address. I assume you're still the queen of e-mail forwards," he added with a chuckle.

"I am not," Arizona replied indignantly, as Callie and Sawyer both subtly rolled their eyes and nodded. Arizona had never met a "funny" e-mail that she didn't pass on.

"So what do we call you?" Sawyer asked. "Besides Tim. I mean, do we call you our… brother. Or just a friend?"

Arizona glanced back at him curiously.

"Well Cameron Beale's parents are deceased. And he has no siblings. Whereas you, legally, have one brother, who is also deceased. So for most people, it will be safest if you don't elaborate. You could call me your brother, but if someone presses you for details, it'd be better to say we were close childhood friends, and you think of me as a brother. But obviously that line won't work on everyone. If you're just talking about me, sure. But if I ever meet some of your friends… If you trust them, and I mean, really trust them to not go to the media with my story, we can talk about letting them in on the truth."

Arizona nodded. "Okay. That makes sense." She paused. "What about Mom and Dad? Have you talked to them yet?" She didn't think it likely, sure that she would have heard from her parents if their dead son had contacted them out of the blue, but it didn't hurt to ask.

Tim shook his head. "Not yet. I… Dad will be the easiest. He gets the whole honour and country thing in a way that most people never could. But Mom… I didn't want to contact them until I was 100% sure that everything had worked. That it was safe for me to contact you and to come back to the states. But now that I know that it is… I've missed them so much. I'm planning on heading to Boston this weekend. To go see them."

Arizona shook her head. "They won't be in Boston this weekend. They'll be here. It's Dad's birthday."

"Oh. Right," Tim replied.

"He said all he wanted for his birthday was to see us and Sofia, and we couldn't get time to go to Boston, so they're coming here."

"Oh," Tim paused. "Do you think… I don't want to ruin his birthday. But I…"

"No. I think it's a good idea," Arizona replied. "That way we can all be there to… calm things down. Keep the peace."

"All?" Tim asked, glancing at Sawyer.

"Oh no," Sawyer breathed.

"You said you'd come," Arizona countered.

Sawyer and The Colonel's relationship was progressing slowly. Daniel was eager to get to know his daughter, but Sawyer was far more hesitant to forge a relationship with the father she'd never known. Despite the fact that she now knew that his absence in her life had not been entirely his fault, the relationship often left her conflicted. Like she was being unfaithful or ungrateful to her mother somehow. Replacing her with a new parent. That much she had confessed to Arizona. What she hadn't mentioned, but Arizona suspected, was that Sawyer had some residual issues with father figures, after being physically abused by her stepfather for years. Put it all together, and Sawyer's willingness to come over and skype with their father when Arizona invited her to, was limited.

But Sawyer had been there when Daniel had detailed their travel plans to Arizona for his birthday. And when Arizona revealed that Callie was planning the menu for an awesome birthday dinner for him on Friday night, Daniel had invited Sawyer. Only half paying attention, the resident had been unable to come up with an excuse as to why she would be unable to attend, and had instead found herself agreeing to help with dessert.

"I said I'd come when I thought it'd be a couple hours for dinner, and then I could make my getaway. I did not agree to attend the reunion of your parents and their dead son. This is a family thing," Sawyer argued.

"You're family," Arizona countered.

"I'm _your_ family," Sawyer contested. "I'm not their family."

"Could you come for Sofia?" Callie asked. "When Tim shows up… it's going to be emotional. She won't understand. You could take her… distract her. Keep her occupied until things are okay." Callie looked hopefully at Sawyer. It was a lot to ask; for her to be present for such an intimate family moment, of a family that she had such conflicted feelings about belonging to. And yes, Callie could take Sofia. But she wanted to be there to support Arizona, in whatever way she might need. She was counting on Sawyer's unwavering devotion to her niece to trump whatever anxieties she had about seeing her father and stepmother.

Sawyer closed her eyes and sighed. "Fine." She pointed at Tim. "But you come after dinner. I'll take Sofia and we'll hang out. Then I'll wind her down, put her to bed and sneak out the back."

Arizona nodded. "Thank you."

Sawyer pointed to Callie's stomach. "If she is half as adorable as Sofia, I am so screwed. I'll never say no again."

Callie laughed and patted Sawyer's arm, as a soft padding on the stairs alerted the adults that Sofia had woken from her nap. The toddler pushed at her hair as she sleepily trodded into the room in her cookie monster t-shirt and pull up (Callie had pulled off her shorts before putting her down) and immediately crawled up the chair and into Arizona's lap. In much the same way Callie turned into a cuddle fiend after sex, Sofia craved her cuddles when waking up. Never picky when it came to her parents, she'd take the first lap available.

"Hello beautiful girl," Arizona greeted her daughter with a kiss. "Good nap?" she asked.

Sofia nodded.

After a few moments for Sofia to wake up a little more fully, she noticed the strange man sitting at her table. Ducking her head shyly against her Momma's shoulder, Arizona smoothed her hand over Sofia's bedhead and pressed a kiss to her temple.

"Sof," Arizona smiled softly, "this is Uncle Tim."

Sofia eyed Timothy warily for a moment before she seemed to decide she wasn't interested in him, and she turned her attention to Sawyer. "Is Alex here?" she asked.

Sawyer chuckled. After their first play date, Alex had rocketed up the ranks of Sofia's favourite adults, and she asked to play with him on a fairly regular basis. "No, he's at work, Bear."

Sofia pouted.

"Don't take it personally," Sawyer added to Tim after Sofia's apparent rejection. "She might love Alex more than I do."

Arizona's eyes widened and Callie raised her brow.

"Love?" Torres asked.

Sawyer froze for a second, lips parted, before she swallowed. "Let's not make a big deal," she spoke quickly, biting her lip.

Callie and Arizona smirked while Tim looked a mix between uncomfortable and confused.

"You're gonna like Uncle Tim, Sof," Sawyer said, changing the subject. "I bet he's just as good at hide and seek as Alex."

"Nuh-uh," Sofia giggled.

"Is that a challenge?" Tim laughed.

Arizona raised her brow. "I think it is…"

**XXXXXXXX**

Arizona couldn't tell if Friday was racing towards her, or dragging. On the one hand, part of her had wanted to call her parents and tell them the truth about Tim from the moment she'd found out. Because yes, it hurt incredibly that he'd deceived them all in such a huge way, but ultimately, the fact that he was alive was amazing. And she wanted them to know that their son was out there. When she thought about that, it felt like Friday couldn't come fast enough.

On the other hand, watching their reactions to the news was not something Arizona was looking forward to, and in that sense, Friday could take its time.

But eventually or inevitably, Friday rolled around, and Arizona picked up her beaming parents from Sea-tac with a giddy Sofia in tow.

The car ride home was dominated by Sofia and her Nana. Arizona and the Colonel were barely able to get a word in. But Arizona wouldn't have it any other way. She'd always assumed that her mother would adore being a grandmother, but even she'd underestimated the way her mother lit up around Sofia. Arizona shot a quick smile to her father in the passenger seat, while her mother and Sofia sang songs in the back.

Pulling in the driveway, Barbara momentarily paused her singing to take notice of the house.

"Oh, Arizona, the pictures didn't do it justice! It's just gorgeous!"

"Thanks, Mom," Arizona smiled as she killed the engine.

"Can you show me your new house?" Barbara asked as she helped Sofia out of her car seat.

"Mhmm," Sofia nodded happily, taking her Nana's hand and leading her to the front door.

"C'mon, Papa," Arizona joked. "We can follow their tour, and I'll add in some details."

"Sounds good," Daniel smiled.

Entering the front door, they only had time for a quickly shouted hello towards Callie in the kitchen before Sofia urged them upstairs to see her new room. They ended the tour in the kitchen, where they found Callie hovering over various pans on the stove, while Sawyer sat at the island, icing a cake.

"Oh, Callie, you look radiant!" Barbara gushed, rushing to hug her daughter-in-law. "Pregnancy agrees with you."

"This one does at least," Callie joked, kissing Barbara's cheek. "Way easier than the last one. Robbins babies are nice to their moms."

"Oh, not this one," Barbara laughed gesturing to Arizona. "I think I was sick for 9 months straight."

"I think you were too," Daniel chuckled as he hugged Callie.

Arizona shrugged. "Sorry, 'bout that."

Sofia's giggles caught their attention. She had climbed up on the chair beside Sawyer and was licking chocolate icing from her finger.

"Cut that out," Sawyer stage whispered, laughing good-naturedly and wiping a little frosting on Sofia's nose to elicit another giggle. "You're gonna ruin your supper and get us both in trouble," she winked.

"Hi," Sawyer added to the elder Robbins couple when she realized the focus had turned to her.

"Hello."

"Hi, Sawyer," Barbara and Daniel greeted.

Arizona lifted Sofia down from the island. "Let's go get washed up. Mami made Papa an awesome supper for his birthday."

"It's your birthday, Papa?" Sofia asked, taking his hand as he and Barbara led her to the bathroom. "How _old_ are you?"

**XXXXXXXX**

When dinner had finished, the group moved to the living room. Sofia quickly gathered her favourite toys and brought them to show her Nana, but shortly, Arizona glanced at her watch, and shot a look at Callie and Sawyer, who both nodded.

"Sofia," Callie said gently. "Momma and I have to talk to Nana and Papa about something. Some grown-up stuff. Could you go upstairs and play with Auntie Sawyer for a bit, please?"

Sawyer held out her hand.

Sofia looked somewhat disappointed about not getting to spend the evening with her Nana (although not nearly as upset as Barbara) but she took Sawyer's hand and followed her up the stairs.

"You need to talk to us?" Daniel asked, as Barbara settled next to him on the couch opposite Callie and Arizona.

"About what?" Barbara asked. "You have a beautiful new home, you're expecting a baby. There's something else we need to know about?"

Arizona would have chuckled if this situation hadn't been so serious. She took a deep breath, and Callie reached over to hold her hand.

"It's about Timothy," Arizona said slowly, watching as the familiar looks of sadness from her mother, and a deep desire not to talk about him from her father, washed over their faces.

She took another deep breath. "He's on his way over here."

A stunned silence hung over the room for a moment before anger flashed in her father's eyes. "That's not at all funny, Arizona," he barked.

"I'm not… I'm not trying to be funny. It's not a joke," Arizona countered quickly as Callie squeezed her hand. "He's - "

"Right here."

All heads snapped around to see Tim standing in the doorway. Another stunned silence fell over the room, this one longer than the last, before Barbara stood, on trembling legs as tears rolled down her face.

"Timothy?" she asked in a shocked whisper.

"It's me, Mom," Tim said, crossing the room to stand in front of her. She reached up a tentative hand to touch his face before pulling him into a bone-crushing hug.

The Colonel was on his feet, openly weeping. A sight Arizona had only seen once before, at her brother's funeral. He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around both his wife and his son.

Arizona was crying too, still seated on the couch beside Callie. Callie ran a gentle hand down her wife's back, before pulling her towards her for a soft kiss. "Go," she whispered gently, giving Arizona a little nudge towards her family.

Arizona gave her wife a watery smile before rising and joining in on the group hug.

Callie watched as the four of them stood there, crying and hugging. It almost would have been funny if it hadn't been so beautiful.

After well over ten minutes, the Colonel finally took a step back, and everyone took a seat. Barbara and the Colonel on the love seat holding fast to one another. Callie and Arizona on the couch doing the same, while Tim perched in an armchair.

And Tim began recounting what had happened. How the Marines had faked his death in Afghanistan so that he could join an elite and covert unit, compiled to aid the soon to begin War in Iraq. How he had spent the first few years of his "death" working with this unit and making huge contributions to ending that war and saving thousands of lives. How he had injured his knee, and eventually, the injury had progressed to the point where he could no longer perform his duties within that top secret unit, and the Marines had given him a new identity, and re-insinuated him back into the regular Marine force. And how his distance from this covert group had allowed him to become a candidate for Callie's trial.

Here, Callie and Arizona joined in the story, explaining how it had in fact been Sawyer who had first discovered Tim's true identity, before Callie had overheard the two of them arguing about it, followed by Arizona's eventual discovery of the truth. Callie detailed the plan they had come up with, how she and Sawyer had sabotaged her own trial so that Tim could get himself discharged from the Marines and create a new life for himself.

Tim then took over detailing the last 6 months when he had been away, calling in every favour ever owed to him, and creating a completely untraceable new identity for himself in Canada.

The story was met with a mix of emotions. Anger at Timothy's deception, sadness for the years they had lost together, pride for all that Tim had done for his country and, of course, gratitude, to Callie for giving up her research.

When they had finally finished hashing out all of the details, it was well after midnight. Callie had noticed Sawyer slip out hours ago, flashing the Latina a subtle thumbs-up from the doorway to let her know that Sofia had gone down okay while simultaneously offering her moral support.

"I am so sorry, for what I had to put you through," Tim repeated for what must have been the tenth time that night.

Barbara reached over to squeeze his hand. "I love you, Timothy," she said earnestly. "So much."

"I think, maybe, we should all get some sleep," Daniel suggested. "This is a lot to take in."

Barbara nodded.

Tim left his parents and sisters with tight hugs, and the promise to come back for breakfast in the morning, if only to make sure that Barbara and Daniel didn't wake up thinking the entire evening was a dream.

When Barbara and the Colonel headed upstairs to the sparsely decorated guest room (it currently housed a mountain of boxes, a bed, and nothing else), Arizona turned to Callie.

"You did that," she whispered.

"What's that?" Callie asked, joining her hands behind Arizona's back and tugging her as close as the small baby bump would allow.

"This," Arizona repeated. "You made this reunion possible. If you hadn't been brilliant enough to make cartilage out of Jell-O, he never would have come to Seattle. And if you hadn't been the most selfless person in the universe, and given up that research, he wouldn't have been able to get out of that life and come back to us. I will never be able to thank you enough."

"Hey, what'd I say about the thanking?" Callie asked, half joked, cupping Arizona's cheek. "I get to spend the rest of my life with you. That is about the greatest reward I could ever get. I don't need any thanks after that."

Arizona grinned. "I love you."

"I love you too," Callie replied.

"That was a little cheesy though," Arizona joked, leaning in for a kiss.

"It's the baby," Callie countered in-between kisses. "Makes me cheesy _and_ wise."

**I'm sorry this took so long. I had the first draft finished days ago, but I think I rewrote this chapter at least 6 times, and I'm still not thrilled with it.**

**Not exactly sure what it is about this one.**

**But any feedback you have would be exceptionally appreciated.**


	25. Chapter 25

Arizona had decided that she liked Dr. Nagra. Very much. The man was exceedingly patient. You would think that having two surgeons as expectant parents would mean that there would be minimal questions. But quite the opposite was actually true. Not only did they have a solid medical background of information, but they could both read a medical journal and not get lost. Meaning the poor man was met with a barrage of "could this" and "what ifs" at every appointment. (Mostly from Callie, but Arizona had been known to throw in a question herself). Sawyer suspected that it had something to do with the fact that the pregnancy was running so smoothly. If there had been complications, neither woman would be so actively searching for something that might go wrong.

The questions, what if scenarios and possibilities got worse at 24 weeks. Callie had never been 24 weeks pregnant before. Uncharted territory meant that the couple had even more questions. Which Dr. Nagra answered patiently. With enough medical jargon to acknowledge that he was speaking to two colleagues, but not so much that he'd forgotten that they were nervous expectant parents.

But on the day that he'd begun the appointment with "There's something we need to discuss" both Callie and Arizona felt their stomachs give out.

"What?"

"What is it?" both women snapped in unison.

"Is it her heart?" Callie asked. "I knew 125 was too low. Is she - "

"Woah, easy," Dr. Nagra cut them off. "She's fine. Everything's fine. 125 is a perfectly normal heart rate for a fetus this size. Anything between 110 and 160 would be acceptable. Your baby is perfectly healthy. We need to talk about a cesarean section."

"Oh," Callie replied, feeling the tight grip Arizona had on her hand loosen at the words.

"I'm sorry we're so nervous," Arizona laughed.

"No, no, don't apologize," Dr. Nagra waved them off. "Sofia's birth was less than ideal. You've earned the right to be a little scared. And really, on the nervous parent scale, I'd give you about a 5 out of 10."

Callie and Arizona laughed, a little more relieved.

"Okay, so a c-section," Dr. Nagra continued.

"Are you sure one's necessary?" Callie asked. "I know that's what Addison said when she checked me out, but I completely missed Sofia's birth and I'd kind of like to experience this one," she added hopefully.

Dr. Nagra opened some files. "Because Sofia was delivered after a trauma at 23 weeks, Dr. Montgomery was forced to use a vertical uterine incision. Normally, an OB would use a low transverse incision, and in that case, you would be fine to deliver vaginally. But with a vertical incision, the risk of uterine rupture is much higher. I agree with Dr. Montgomery's assessment that you'll need planned cesarean. Otherwise, the risk for you and the baby is just too high."

Callie nodded. "Okay. Of course. Whatever's safest for the baby."

"As far as experiencing the birth however," Dr. Nagra continued, "we can do a spinal block, so you'll be conscious for the whole procedure. You'll be able to watch her come out, and meet her as soon as I hand her off to Dr. Robbins."

"That sounds good," Callie smiled.

"Okay, so, due date is December 4th," Nagra, mused, examining his calendar. "I'd like to wait until she hits 39 weeks to make sure the lung development is complete so… How does November 30th sound? That's a Monday. You still want the baby to be delivered at Seattle Grace, yes?"

Callie and Arizona nodded.

"Okay. I will arrange that with your chief of surgery then. Shouldn't be too difficult. I'll just name drop that I need the OR for baby Torres."

"Baby Robbins-Torres," Callie corrected quickly.

"No, just baby Torres," Arizona amended.

Callie shot her a confused look.

Dr. Nagra smiled. "No need to rush with that decision. I'll be booking the OR under your name Dr. Torres. You have plenty of time to decide what you'd like her last name to be."

When Dr. Nagra had left the room, and Callie began to re-dress, she asked, "What do you mean _just_ Torres?"

"I think her last name should be Torres," Arizona replied, passing Callie her skirt.

"But it's _our_ baby," Callie countered. "She should have both of our names."

"Sofia is our baby. Her last name is Torres."

"That's because Torres-Robbins-Sloan would have been ridiculous," Callie replied. "This is different."

"But I don't want it to be," Arizona sighed. "I don't think of Sofia as being any less my daughter because she has your last name."

"Of course you don't," Callie replied, pulling her shirt over her head.

"I don't want Sofia to someday think that I love this baby more, or that she somehow belongs to me more because I gave her my last name."

"Arizona," Callie sighed. "She won't. You said it yourself. We'll never treat them any differently so it'll never occur to them. It's just a name. And Robbin is Sofia's middle name. You're a part of her name too."

"I know, but…" Arizona paused. "They're sisters. They should have the same last name."

Callie pursed her lips.

"Besides," Arizona continued. "I've never liked the sound of hyphenated names, anyways. They're so cumbersome. And what if she wants to hyphenate when she gets married? Or hyphenate her kids names? I worked with a doctor once whose last name was MacMillan-Jones-Peters. No joke. She was born MacMillan-Jones. Married a guy named Peters. And like you said, three names is sort of ridiculous."

"Are you sure?" Callie asked, taking her hand. "It doesn't matter to me what her last name is. And I don't think anyone will be upset if the girls have different last names. Not even Sofia."

Arizona smiled and placed a slow kiss on Callie's lips. "I like when you say _the girls_," she smiled.

Callie grinned. "I like saying it," she replied.

"I want Torres," Arizona stated. "Just Torres."

"Okay," Callie smiled. "Whatever you want."

**XXXXXXXX**

November 30th approached slowly. But maybe that was a good thing. It gave them time to get completely settled into the new house. To get the nursery done, in green and pink and white, just like Callie had wanted. To moved the rocking chair that had once sat in Sofia's nursery to the new nursery, as well as deck out the window seat with a myriad of cushions. If the baby wanted to keep her mom's up all night, they would at least have a choice of seat. They'd set up the bassinet in their bedroom. Mark had gotten them an awesome double stroller for an infant and a toddler as a baby shower gift. They'd received more clothes and toys than they could possibly use, given that they still had most of Sofia's old ones. All of Sofia's old baby stuff had been fished out of storage and anything that had mysteriously gone missing had been replaced.

So they were ready.

And only one more obstacle stood between them and November 30th.

Thanksgiving.

They were having dinner at their house because it was biggest. Mark's apartment was tiny. Lexie and Sawyer's place couldn't accommodate everyone. And no one even suggested hosting it at Alex's.

Besides, Barbara, the Colonel and Tim were all coming for dinner, so their place really made the most sense.

Tim's arrival did throw a tiny hiccup into things, as the couple was unsure of how to introduce Timothy to Mark, Lexie and Alex. But after some discussion, they decided that the truth made the most sense, and that they could trust those three not to run with this story to the public.

To say that Lexie, Mark and Alex had been shocked would be putting it lightly, but all three were happy that Arizona now had her brother back in her life, and they greeted Tim warmly when he arrived.

The arrival of Barbara and the Colonel went well also. The Colonel had warmed to Mark considerably over the years (he no longer referred to him as "the sperm donor") and he seemed to like the fact that Mark was involved with Lexie.

Alex had been nervous about meeting the Colonel, but Sawyer had rolled her eyes and reminded him that she'd only known the man herself for a couple of years. He had nothing to worry about. (Daniel did eye Alex sternly when introduced. And his handshake might have been a bit firmer than usual. But he did behave).

In fact the only tension at all amongst the guests was between the two who were likely the most amicable people there. Barbara and Sawyer.

After Barbara's initial meeting with Sawyer, she had apologized for her harsh words and Sawyer had readily accepted her apology and forgiven her. And they were nothing but polite to each other. But while both women knew, intellectually, that how Sawyer came into being was not her fault, Barbara disliked the reminder of her husband's infidelity and Sawyer was uncomfortable with being that reminder.

The adults present understood the women's trepidation towards each other. Sofia, on the other hand, did not.

She saw no reason that two of her favourite grown-ups wouldn't want to play together. And since her Nana's arrival, she had taken to taking them both by the hand, and leading them on whatever adventure, or in whatever game suited her.

And they both loved Sofia, so they were willing to go along with her games, together, without any fuss. But that didn't mean that they weren't looking for an escape if one presented itself.

"So are we playing football later?" Tim asked, seated at the island with the task of making cranberry sauce in front of him.

"Can you play football?" Sawyer asked from her perch with Barbara and Sofia at the table, colouring. "With your knee?"

"My knee's fine," Tim brushed off with a wave. "Good to go."

"Let me see," Callie requested, leaving her post at the stove and passing her spoon to Mark so that he could take over stirring. Kneeling in front of Tim, Callie examined the healed scar and had him perform a few basic mobility tests. "That actually does look really good," she smiled. "Wanna come see your work, Sawyer?"

Sawyer hopped up from her spot at the dining room table and bent to examine Tim's knee. "Looks awesome," she smiled.

"I didn't know you assisted with that procedure," Alex said.

"Yeah, Callie let me detach the quadriceps from the patella," Sawyer grinned.

"You did an excellent job," Callie smiled.

"Are you going to be an orthopedic surgeon then?" Barbara asked, making an effort at conversation.

"No she's - " Alex started, before he caught Sawyer's eye and clamped his mouth shut. "I mean… um, can I colour too, Sofia?"

Sofia nodded happily and passed him a colouring book as he sat down beside her.

"I need blue," Alex hemmed.

Sawyer reached across the table and threw a blue crayon at him.

"Now, now, Auntie Sawyer, that's not how we share nicely," Arizona joked.

"Come on, you're almost two and a half years into your residency," Mark stated. "You must know what you want by now. I knew as a intern."

"So did I," Callie agreed.

"I didn't," Arizona acknowledged. "But I definitely knew by residency."

"Not everyone knows right away," Alex tried. "Sometimes you need an attending to pick your specialty for you."

Arizona shot him a smile.

"You told Alex," Lexie complained. "Tell us what you chose."

"It's plastics," Mark grinned.

Sawyer sighed. "I want neuro."

"Yes!" Lexie cried, pumping her fist in the air.

"Really?" Mark whined.

"I thought you were going to pick trauma," Arizona stated. "Hunt is going to be crushed."

"So are we playing football?" Sawyer asked, changing the subject.

"After dinner. It's tradition," Arizona nodded.

"Well dinner's just about ready," Callie stated. "So, Sofia, why don't we get those crayons cleaned up so we can set the table, and you and Nana go wash your hands."

**XXXXXXXX **

Lexie had to leave for her shift at the hospital right when dinner had finished, but everyone else was game for some football. Barbara took her usual perch of referee on the steps of the back porch while Callie sat beside her as a second set of eyes. Sofia brought her dolls outside to the porch and alternated between playing by herself, and bringing her Nana and Mami in on the game.

The six remaining adults divided into two, relatively fair teams. Arizona, Mark and Daniel against Sawyer, Alex and Tim. (The Colonel was in remarkable shape for a man his age, and despite his claims, Tim's knee still had a considerable amount of therapy to undergo).

Callie's attention flitted between Sofia and the game. She sat her dolly down at a tea party, then looked back up to see Mark make a handoff to Arizona before Tim tagged his sister out. She helped Sofia brush out her doll's hair while she watched Alex throw an incomplete pass to Tim. And she got Sofia to cheer along with her when Alex's next pass connected with Sawyer, and the blonde sprinted past Mark and into the end zone for the first touch down.

Callie laughed as Sawyer did a victory dance in Mark's face, and smiled when Alex came up to hug her from behind, spinning her in a circle while she laughed.

"Those two seem happy," Barbara commented.

"Yeah," Callie smiled. "I think they are."

"Do you think they'll gat married?" Barbara asked.

Callie paused. "Not any time soon. But someday? Yeah, I could see it."

Barbara nodded. "Mark and Lexie first?"

"Definitely," Callie agreed.

Shifting her weight, Callie noticed a wet spot where she'd been sitting.

"Oh, it's wet here, Sofia," she said. "Let's move over by Nana."

"Not wet, Mami," Sofia argued.

Glancing around again, Callie realized she was right. The water was limited to that small puddle. Noticing a corresponding wet spot on her pants, Callie felt a slow trickle make its way down her leg.

"Oh my god!" Callie called.

"What's wrong, dear?" Barbara asked.

"My water just broke!" Callie replied.

"Oh!" Barbara exclaimed. "Arizona! Arizona!" she shouted.

The football paused.

"Yeah?" Arizona asked, jogging over.

"My water just broke," Callie said breathlessly.

"Wha – are you sure?" Arizona asked.

"Pretty sure," Callie replied with an eye roll.

"Are you having contractions?" Arizona asked.

Callie shook her head.

"Okay," Arizona nodded. "Okay. The bag is packed. I'm gonna go get your bag. And I'll call Dr. Nagra and we'll go." She leaned in to kiss Callie. "We got this," she added as she hurried into the house, pulling her phone from her pocket.

The rest of the football players had congregated by the porch steps, offering smiles and words of encouragement.

Alex dug through the pile of coats. "Keys, where are my keys?" he muttered.

"Oh, are you coming too, Karev?" Callie quipped.

"What – no," Alex replied. "But I'm blocking you in. I need my keys."

"Oh, damn, I'm blocking you in too!" Mark cried, joining Alex in the hunt through the coats.

"Alex," Sawyer called. "I drove," she said flatly, pulling the keys from her pocket and tossing them to him.

"Right!" Alex replied, catching them, and hurrying around the side of the house to move the car.

"Oh god! Did Lexie drive here? Maybe she took my keys with her when she left!" Mark said.

"Lexie drove her own car," Sawyer replied.

"Check your pants pockets," Callie suggested slowly.

"Found them!" Mark called triumphantly, running around the house to move his car as well.

"Wow," Callie said as she watched him go.

"Why do men turn into sitcom characters when a woman goes into labour?" Sawyer asked with a chuckle.

"When I had Timothy, Daniel ran out to the car and forgot me," Barbara offered.

The Colonel looked sheepish.

Callie and Sawyer laughed.

Arizona reappeared with Callie's bag in tow, phone pressed to her ear. "What do you mean, you don't know?" she demanded into the phone. "Go find out!" She turned her attention to Callie. "So, Dr. Nagra is in Arlington, visiting his family for Thanksgiving."

"What?" Callie replied.

"Don't worry," Arizona replied quickly. "I'm on the phone with SGMW, and whichever OB surgeon is on call will do the procedure. It'll be fine," she added as Mark and Alex reappeared around the side of the house.

"No, who called in sick?" Arizona asked, her attention back on the phone. "Well who did you get to replace her?" There was a pause. "There is not a flu going around. It's Thanksgiving. There are a lot of lies going around!" Another pause. "So there are no OB surgeons at the hospital right now? Well I suggest you find one!" she added as she hung up.

"So…" Arizona started.

"We heard," Callie replied shortly. "But that's okay. We're okay. There's no contractions. I'm not even really in labour yet."

"No, Torres, we don't want you to go into labour," Alex interrupted. "Montgomery had to use a vertical uterine incision last time. The risk of uterine rupture increases 50% once the uterus starts contracting."

Callie gave him a surprised look.

"I was Addison's first assist with Sofia," Alex supplied.

"Okay, well then why don't you do this one?" Callie asked.

"I - " Alex started.

"Nope, she's right, Karev," Arizona cut in. "There's no one else there, and you were there for the last procedure. You're the best choice, now."

"Okay," Alex nodded.

"You drive," Arizona instructed.

"Right," Alex nodded.

And with two quick goodbye kisses for Sofia from her moms, the trio hurried around the side of the house, and took off in Alex's car.

**XXXXXXXX**

They were greeted at the hospital with a speed and efficiency that likely only meets two very well liked staff surgeons. Callie was prepped and in the OR within an hour of her arrival at the hospital.

Gloved and gowned, Arizona took her seat beside Callie's head, and held tight to one of her hands.

When Alex appeared in the room, he smiled at the couple. "I'll have them drop the drape once I'm done making the incisions," he offered.

Both Callie and Arizona nodded.

The incisions were made without any complications, and Alex nodded to the nurse to lower the drape. Callie and Arizona watched with tears in their eyes as Alex pulled their baby girl screaming into the world.

"She looks good," Alex smiled as he cut the umbilical cord.

"She's perfect," Callie breathed as she stared at her beautiful, bloody, screaming infant.

Arizona let out a watery laugh and rested her forehead against Callie's.

"We're just gonna clean her up," the nurse said as Alex went to work delivering the placenta.

"Go with her," Callie urged Arizona.

Arizona nodded, placing a kiss on Callie's temple as she followed the nurse and her daughter.

Minutes later, Arizona returned with the baby swaddled in white, and her cries miraculously calmed to whimpers. She resumed her seat by Callie's head. "Hi, Mami," she breathed.

"Hi beautiful," Callie replied reverently, choking back tears.

They sat together until Alex had finished closing Callie up, then moved from the OR to Callie's hospital room.

Once settled, Arizona passed the baby to Callie and pulled out her phone.

"Whatcha doin?" Callie asked, eyes not moving from her daughter's face.

"Just sending a message to let everyone know that it all went well," Arizona smiled. "Here. Take her picture," she said, passing Callie her phone. The text read,

_Maggie Joy Torres_

_6 lbs, 0 oz, 20 inches_

_Born 8:32pm, _

_November 26__th__, 2014_

_Baby and Mami are both happy, healthy & perfect._

Callie smiled and snapped a picture of the infant. "Here," she said, passing it back after a moment more to edit to the text. "That's better."

_Maggie Joy Torres_

_6 lbs, 0 oz, 20 inches_

_Born 8:32pm, _

_November 26__th__, 2014_

_Baby and Moms are all happy, healthy & perfect._

Arizona laughed. "Okay," she smiled, hitting send. She could see the fatigue in Callie's features. "You go ahead and sleep," she offered. "We'll be here when you wake up," she added, scooping Maggie off of the bed.

"Kay," Callie replied. "I love you."

"We love you too," Arizona replied.

Callie beamed.

**XXXXXXXX**

Arizona spent the night in the hospital room with Callie and Maggie. Callie dozed in and out of sleep, but Arizona was wide-awake, and simply couldn't stop staring at her beautiful miracle.

But Callie was alert, awake and holding the baby when their visitors appeared the next morning. Daniel, Barbara and Timothy arrived only minutes before Mark and Sofia. Alex and Sawyer were both working, but they too show up right on Mark's heels. (Alex claimed he was just checking on his patients, but Sawyer rolled her eyes and let him know that absolutely no one was buying that).

"She's so tiny!" Sofia exclaimed.

"You were much tinier," Arizona replied with a laugh.

"I was?" Sofia asked, incredulously. "No, Momma.'

"You were," Mark confirmed.

"She looks so much like Arizona!" Barbara cooed, running her hand over the scant blonde fuzz atop Maggie's head.

"You were that little too, Momma?" Sofia asked.

"I was," Arizona laughed.

Sofia cocked her head to the side to examine her sister better. The baby blinked back at her with Arizona's blue eyes.

"Her eyes are so big," Mark smiled. "God, she's really beautiful, guys."

After Maggie had been passed around a few times, (with remarkably little fuss for a baby who was only hours old) Callie shot a glance at Arizona, who nodded and moved to the edge of the group. "Can I talk to you for a minute?" she asked Sawyer, catching her by the elbow.

"Oh, sure," Sawyer replied, tearing her eyes away from her niece and following her sister into the hall. "What's up, Zoey?" she asked as she pulled the door to the hospital room shut behind her.

"Callie and I would like you to be Maggie's godmother," Arizona smiled.

"Really?" Sawyer breathed, a big smile popping onto her face.

"Of course," Arizona replied.

Sawyer pulled her sister into a hug. "Oh my god, it's like a license to spoil!" she cried happily.

Arizona laughed, hugging her back. "Let's not get carried away, now."

Sawyer grinned as she pulled back from the hug. "Thank you."

Arizona squeezed her shoulder, shaking her head. "Thank you," she replied.

Returning back to the hospital room, Arizona shot Callie a quick thumbs up to let her know that Sawyer had happily agreed. Callie beamed back at her.

Mark had to leave for his shift, so Sofia was spending the day with Nana and Papa. Once the toddler had taken in her fill of the new baby, Barbara and Daniel had taken her home with the promise to come back later for another visit.

"Hey, Uncle Tim," Arizona smiled as her brother held her daughter. "She looks good on you." Tim smiled back, and Arizona was struck, not for the first time, how amazing it felt to say _Uncle Tim_. She'd never thought she'd get to say that to her kids.

As Tim handed Maggie back to Callie, she turned to Alex. "Do you want a turn, Uncle Alex?" Callie smiled.

Alex paused momentarily at the new name, glancing at Arizona to make sure his boss wasn't about to object. But Arizona simply smiled as she watched Alex lift her daughter gently, and cradle her to his chest.

"That looks pretty good on you too, Uncle Alex," Arizona stated with a sly smile.

"Uh, yeah, sure, I gotta go. Round… and stuff," Alex said quickly, panic evident in his voice as he passed Maggie off to Sawyer.

Sawyer shot Arizona a look as Alex fled the room.

Arizona smirked.

"Hi Mags," Sawyer cooed, turning her attention to her niece. "Your Momma is in trou-ble." She sing-songed. "Because that was not cool. And you wanna know what I'm gonna do to get back at her? I'm gonna buy you the noisiest toys I can find! The absolute noisiest. And I can give you as many toys as I want because I'm your godmother. Yes I am."

"I am not okay with noisy toys," Callie interrupted.

Sawyer smirked.

"I gotta get back to work." She pressed a kiss to a sleeping Maggie's forehead. "I'll be back to visit later." She passed Maggie off to Callie and left.

"I'm gonna run too," Tim laughed, watching the exchange between his sisters. He'd never witnessed Arizona in a sibling interaction that he wasn't a part of before this year. But he found he kind of liked it. And it was certainly amusing. "See you guys later," he added with a kiss to the cheek of all three.

Alone with her wife and new baby, Callie grinned at Arizona. She shifted herself over in bed. "Come snuggle with us, Momma," she requested.

Arizona grinned and slipped in beside her.

"Hi," Callie greeted her with a kiss.

"Hey," Arizona replied.

"She's sort of perfect," Callie grinned. "Just like her Momma."

Arizona smiled.

"Thank you," Callie added, her fingers brushing against the side of Maggie's cheek.

"Hey, you did all the work," Arizona deflected.

Maggie squirmed and let out a short cry.

"Oh, look. She wants you to do a little more work," Arizona joked. "I'm pretty sure she wants your boobs."

"Delicate," Callie laughed, repositioning herself.

"That's me," Arizona joked. She watched her wife breastfeed for a moment before she added, "I love you. So much."

"I love you too," Callie smiled.

**The End.**

**Well this was fun, folks.**

**Thank you so much for your continued support. I'm glad that so many of you have come to love Sawyer almost as much as I do ;) **

**I'm not planning on returning to Sawyer's world any time soon. And if/when I do, it probably won't be a multi chapter fic. Perhaps someday I'll find that I miss her and this world and crank out some one shots.**

**Until then, I'll probably return to the world of canon. Eventually. **

**I would love to hear your final thoughts, especially if you've been a long time reader and never left your opinion.**

**Cheers, friends.**


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